Concept Of Thickness Research Articles

Buckling of flat laminated glass panels under in-plane compression or shear

Because of evident aesthetic, lighting and architectural advantages, glass curtain walls are largely used to clad modern buildings. Since these elements are considered to constitute purely architectural systems, they are essentially designed to resist loads acting orthogonally to the plane of the façade (e.g. wind loads). Contrarily, glass elements are frequently used as structural components able to sustain in-plane loads (e.g. columns, stiffening fins, beam elements, stairs, etc.), thus to preserve their integrity a buckling verification could assume great importance.In order to overcome these problems, an analytical formulation is proposed for the estimation of the buckling resistance of flat laminated glass panels under in-plane compression or shear. Two different design approaches are taken into account and compared: the first one directly derives from the theory of sandwich panels, whereas the second one is based on the approximate concept of equivalent thickness. As discussed in the paper, this last approach constitutes a useful design expedient for the deformability and resistance check of buckled laminated panels under in-plane compression or shear, in presence of different boundary conditions. Since the resistance of such brittle elements directly depends on the level of connection between the glass panes offered by the interlayer, the effects of possible temperature and time-loading variations are highlighted. The obtained analytical results are in agreement with sophisticated numerical simulations.

Generalization of the Concept of Equivalent Thickness and Capacitance to Multigate MOSFETs Modeling

In this letter, we propose to introduce the notion of equivalent capacitance and to generalize the so-called equivalent-thickness concept to model arbitrary shapes of lightly doped nonplanar multigate MOSFETs, without the need to introduce any unphysical parameter. These definitions, which merely map a multigate geometry into the symmetric double-gate (DG) MOSFET topology, have been validated by extensive comparison with 3-D numerical simulations of quadruple-gate, triple-gate (TG), triangular gate, cylindrical gate-all-around, and DG Fin Field Effect Transistors (FinFETs). Based on this modeling approach, any multigate architecture inherits of the fundamental relationships that have been developed for planar DG MOSFETs, including the normalization of all electrical quantities that considerably simplifies its analysis. In addition, considering a constant mobility, we find that the model can predict electrical characteristics of FinFETs from 275 to 425 K, without the need for any additional parameters. Finally, we were able to predict electrical measurements of a TG MOSFET, making of this generic model an interesting candidate for a design-oriented compact model for arbitrary multigate MOSFETs geometries.

Justice and Pluralism in the EU

This article will focus on the issue of justice in the EU. Latterly, the notion of justice has tended to be overshadowed by other concepts. For example, human rights, democracy or accountability tend to be relied on far more frequently than justice as conceptual tools for diagnosing and treating EU problems. Yet perhaps we should remember the plea for the priority of justice as articulated by John Rawls: ‘Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is to thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust.’ While I will not argue for the application of Rawls’ actual theory of justice to EU law, I do argue that justice, or perhaps rather injustice, raises especially salient issues for the contemporary EU. Analyzing the EU’s actions in terms of justice highlights their impact on its peoples, and accentuates its imbalances of power. In attempting to deal with some particularly pressing 21st century issues, the EU has not added value but caused injustice. This paper will give some particular examples. However, the solutions to these instances of injustice are not readily apparent, nor may answers easily be found in other concepts such as human rights, democracy or accountability. I believe that some of these concerns are attributable in particular to the sui generis nature of the EU, in its existence neither as purely state, international law, nor federal body. In its form as ‘unidentified political object’ the EU presents singular challenges for justice.In the earlier, more descriptive part of this article, I do not attempt to define the notion of justice, nor argue that it should be understood in any particular sense – for example, as a thick or thin concept, or in a substantive or procedural sense. Rather, I proceed on the basis that it is a value whose importance is immediately recognizable in some sort of Dworkinian ‘pre-interpretive’ sense, and should surely be acknowledged by an EU that wishes to proclaim its values. In the later sections of the article, however, I turn to the concept of justice in more detail. My argument is that a partial solution to the problem of justice may be found in the particular relation of justice to law, in a concept I name Critical Legal Justice, bearing in mind the crucial role that legal integration has played for the development of the EU. However, justice is not confined to legal justice. Here, my suggestion is that, while justice in a broader sense may be so elusive as to be an ideal or utopian, that it is the diagnosis of injustice which is itself crucial, as justice is more likely to move people in its absence, rather than as an academic or rhetorical exercise that fails to convince. It is injustice that motivates and propels action, and the highlighting of injustice does its own work.

Assessment of institutional thickness in the Turkish context

The main objective of this study is to identify an indicator for the assessment of institutional thickness amongst various possible proxy measures in the Turkish context. Data for the creation of this indicator were collected at the provincial level after theorizing about studies of institutional thickness. The database includes the amount of public investment, the amount of investment incentives, the amount of municipality expenditure, the number of SMEs investment incentive certificates, the number of NGOs, the number of public buildings, the public knowledge creation variable, and the collaborative knowledge creation variable of Turkey. These variables are correlated and examined by taking their component and rotated component matrixes of them. The public knowledge creation indicator is identified as the most significant variable to describe the Turkish institutional setting. However, some commonly thought indicators remain insignificant in the analysis which raises the importance of country specific analysis. Key words: Institutional thickness, innovation systems, Turkish regional growth. INTRODUCTION Institutions are the main players of the innovation systems literature and they have received a lot of attention in the field of business management, economics and economic geography (Freeman, 1987; Cooke, 1990; Lundvall, 1992; Malerba, 2002). After the emergence of the flexible-production systems, institutions have been affiliated with the concepts of ‘learning regions’ (Asheim, 1997; Lundvall, 1992; Maskell et al., 1998) and they have changed the direction of economic development to more ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ issues such as social consensus, institutional support for local business, innovation, skill formation and the circulation of ideas (Amin and Thrift, 1994; Asheim, 1996). Geography has a particular impor-tance in the process of innovation and learning since these social and cultural dimensions are localized in specific places. Considering the ‘place-centredness’ of these dimen-sions, Amin and Thrift (1994: 2) emphasize the role of certain institutions, ranging from strong local institutional presence through to the strength of shared rules and knowledge, to form the social and cultural basis of the economic success of the regions. They provide a list of the organizational components to describe the institu-tional thickness of a locality such as a strong institutional presence ranging from firms, training centres, government agencies, trade associations; high levels of interaction amongst the institutional network in the locality; structures of domination and patterns of coalition; and a mutual awareness of an ‘industrial purpose’ amongst institutions (Amin and Thrift, 1994, 1995). In the most appropriate combination of these four determinants of institutional thickness, the concept is expected to have institutional persistence; achievement of commonly held knowledge; institutional flexibility; a high innovation capacity; trust and reciprocity; and a plethora of diverse institutions to mobilise regions effectively (Henry and Pinch, 2001). However, the concept of institutional thickness still remains as a very broad issue to conceptualize because it is essentially intangible. Some studies suggest that it is key to understanding the workings of the global economy (Amin and Thrift, 1994, 1995; Henry and Pinch, 2001; Keeble et al., 1999; Raco, 1998; Sydow and Staber, 2002), and that it enables us to understand local and

EDUCATION AND “THICK” EPISTEMOLOGY

In this essay Ben Kotzee addresses the implications of Bernard Williams's distinction between “thick” and “thin” concepts in ethics for epistemology and for education. Kotzee holds that, as in the case of ethics, one may distinguish between “thick” and “thin” concepts of epistemology and, further, that this distinction points to the importance of the study of the intellectual virtues in epistemology. Following Harvey Siegel, Kotzee contends that “educated” is a thick epistemic concept, and he explores the consequences of this for the subjects of epistemology and philosophy of education. Ultimately, Kotzee argues that its nature as a “thick” concept makes education suited to play an important role in explaining how the intellectual virtues can be acquired.

Metamorphosis of Confucian Heritage Culture and the possibility of an Asian education research methodology

This paper opens with a critical analysis of a paradox in contemporary educational research in and about Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC): the assumption that national boundaries coincide with those of a distinct and homogeneous culture, which consistently renders a rather homogenous set of educational phenomena, and collides against a more widely accepted discourse – culture transcends geographical frontiers and is ever evolving in character. It is claimed that this paradox is due to the fact that a thin conception of CHC competes neck-and-neck with a thick conception of it. This paper also addresses the possibility of an ad hoc education research methodology in and about CHC and its compliance issues regarding the mainstream Western research dynamics and philosophy of science. Confucian elements relevant to CHC research rationale are discussed to argue that: first, research is inextricably a moral act insofar as free actors are involved in it; second, most sui generis methodological problems attached to CHC occur in the sphere of ethics; and, third, a research methodology that takes into account phenomenographic variation could be the best suited to ease emic–etic tensions inherent to CHC-based research.

The Evaluative Life: Between Fact and Value in Maccormick’s Theories of Law and Legal Reasoning

This paper examines the ‘fact-value separation’ in the context of the practice of legal theory, legal scholarship and legal reasoning. It is divided into three parts: the first part examines recent prominent attempts to move beyond the fact-value dichotomy, while retaining the explanatory utility of the distinction between facts and values; the second analyses the role of the separation in the context of Neil MacCormick’s methodological reflections on the practice of legal theory and legal scholarship; and the third considers the role of the separation in the context of MacCormick’s theory of legal reasoning. The paper argues that although reference to thick terms or thick concepts does help to see the entanglement of facts and values, a better strategy for resisting the dichotomy (while not destroying the utility of the distinction) is to focus on the processes involved in the evaluative lives of evaluative beings (as recommended recently by Andrew Sayer in his Why Things Matter to People, 2011). One of the key features of this evaluative life is (in Sayer’s words) our active ‘striving across the gap between what we have and what we could be, or need or want to be.’ The paper examines the evaluative life of legal theorists, legal scholars and legal practitioners (particularly as this is depicted by MacCormick), and thereby seeks to point to the entanglement of fact and value in the practice of legal theory, legal scholarship and legal reasoning.

Novel Pachymetric Parameters Based on Corneal Tomography for Diagnosing Keratoconus

To describe pachymetric progression indices (PPI) of the Pentacam HR (Oculus Optikgeräte GmbH) and the concept of relational thickness, and to test their accuracy for differentiating keratoconic and normal corneas compared with single-point thickness values. One hundred thirteen individual eyes randomly selected from 113 normal patients and 44 eyes of 44 patients with keratoconus were studied using the Pentacam HR by acquiring central corneal thickness (CCT), thinnest point (TP), position of the TP and PPI at minimal (PPI Min) and maximal (PPI Max) meridians, and the average (PPI Ave) of all meridians. Relational thickness parameters were calculated as the ratios of TP and CCT and PPI values. Mann-Whitney U test assessed differences in groups for each variable. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated for all variables and pairwise comparisons were performed. Statistically significant differences were noted between normal and keratoconic eyes for all parameters (P<.001), except for horizontal position of TP (P=.79). The best parameters, named Ambrósio's Relational Thickness (ART), were ART-Ave (TP/PPI Ave) and ART-Max (TP/PPI Max) with areas under the ROC curves of 0.987 and 0.983, respectively. The best cutoffs were 424 μm and 339 μm for ART-Ave and ART-Max, respectively. Pachymetric progression indices and ART had a greater area under the curve than TP and CCT (P<.001); TP (0.955) had a greater area under the curve than CCT (0.909; P=.002). Tomographic-derived pachymetric parameters were better able to differentiate normal and keratoconic corneas than single-point pachymetric measurements. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of tomography in identifying early forms of ectasia as well as ectasia risk among LASIK candidates.

Comparison of Three Methods of MOM, MLFMM and PO/MOM for Simulation of Variable Wall Thickness Radome

a Design Concept of Piecewise Variable Wall Thickness of Radome Is Proposed to Simulate the Radome which Has Variable Wall. the Paper Calculates the Far Field of a Medium-Size Radome in the Case of Piecewise Variable Thickness by Three Methods as Follows: Method of Moment (MOM), Multilevel Fast Multipole Method (MLFMM) and Physical Optics&amp; the Method of Moments (PO/MOM) Respectively. after Comparing the Results, we Find that the PO/MOM Method Have the Superiority in Simulation of Radome’s Electromagnetic because it’s More Accuracy and Less Memory Consuming than the other Two Methods. Also it Proves the Feasibility of the Design Concept of Piecewise Variable Thickness for Radome.

Optical distortion evaluation of an aerodynamically heated window using the interfacial fluid thickness concept

The interfacial fluid thickness (IFT) concept was used to develop a harmonic-mean refractive index gradient magnitude threshold to retrieve the high refractive index gradient regions of an aerodynamically heated window. The retrieved high-gradient regions were used to reconstruct the refractive index field of the window. The numerical three-dimensional optical distortion evaluation was conducted for both the reconstructed and the original refractive index fields of the window using the ray-tracing program based on a recursive algorithm. Wave aberration results show that the methodology based on the IFT concept reduces the refractive index information required to capture the essential optical distortion of the window. The method can also be used for numerically evaluating the optical distortion of the window.

Thickness of shear flow zone in a circular RC column under pure torsion

This study proposes a rational method capable of analyzing the behavior of circular reinforced concrete (RC) columns under pure torsion with or without axial compression. The developed method is based on the concept of the rotating-angle softened truss model (RA-STM) and incorporates the recently updated material models. In particular, the most important factor in estimating torsional capacity of RC structures–thickness of shear flow zone–is investigated in-depth for the circular RC column and discussed together with other mechanical aspects. The concept of thickness of shear flow zone for rectangular RC members is theoretically well established, while it is not clearly understood for circular RC members. This is due to the lack of existing experimental and analytical research work in this area. Recently, a circular RC column under pure torsion was tested at Missouri S&T. Test results of the column were used to validate the proposed method in terms of overall column behavior and local behavior of each component (concrete, both longitudinal and transverse reinforcement). The comparisons proved that the proposed method was in reasonable agreement with experimental results. In addition, the concept of the proposed method can be applied for any arbitrary section and is free from mechanical assumptions such as concrete cover spalling.

Ethics of using assistive technology in the care for community-dwelling elderly people: An overview of the literature

Objectives: This article provides an overview of the international literature on the most important ethical considerations in the field of assistive technology (AT) in the care for community-dwelling elderly people, focused on dementia. Method: A systematic literature review was performed. Results: A total of 46 papers met the inclusion criteria. Three main themes were found. The first theme, personal living environment, involves the subthemes privacy, autonomy and obtrusiveness. The second theme, the outside world, involves the subthemes stigma and human contact. The third theme, the design of AT devices, involves the subthemes individual approach, affordability and safety. The often referred to umbrella term of ‘obtrusiveness’ is frequently used by many authors in the discussion, while a clear description of the concept is mostly absent. Conclusion: When it comes to AT use in the care for elderly people living at home, ethical debate appears not to be a priority. The little discussion there relies heavily on thick concepts such as autonomy and obtrusiveness which seem to complicate the debate rather than clarify it, because they contain many underlying ambiguous concepts and assumptions. Most encountered ethical objections originate from the view that people are, or should be, independent and self-determinant. It is questionable whether the view is correct and helpful in the debate on AT use in the care for (frail) elderly people. Other ethical approaches that view people as social and reciprocal might be more applicable and shed a different light on the ethical aspects of AT use.

Shapelessness and the Thick

This article aims to clarify the view that thick concepts are irreducibly thick. I do this by putting the disentangling argument in its place and then setting out what nonreductivists about the thick are committed to. To distinguish the view from possible reductive accounts, defenders of irreducible thickness are, I argue, committed to the claim that evaluative concepts and properties are nonevaluatively shapeless. This in turn requires a commitment to (radical) holism and particularism. Nonreductivists are also committed to the claim that a thick concept is in itself evaluative, and not evaluative because of any link to thin evaluation.

Thick Concepts and the Moral Brain

AbstractDrawing on Williams’ distinction between thin and thick ethical concepts, I argue that current moral neuroscience and psychology unwarrantedly restrict their researches to thin morality only. Experiments typically investigate subjects’ judgments about rightness, appropriateness, or permissibility, that is, thin concepts. The nature and workings of thick concepts –e.g., dignity, integrity, humanness, cruelty, pettiness, exploitation, or fanaticism – have not been empirically investigated; hence, they are absent from recent theories about morality. This may seem like a minor oversight, which some additional research can redress. I argue that the fix is not that simple: thick concepts challenge one of the theoretical backbones of much moral psychology and neuroscience; they challenge the conception of a hardwired and universal moral capacity in a way that thin concepts do not. In the conclusion I argue that the burgeoning science of morality should include both thin and thick, and that it should include the contributions of psychologists and neuroscientists as well as those of anthropologists, historians, and sociologists.

Price Discrimination in Income Taxation

Governments throughout the developed world worry incessantly about the implications of sophisticated tax planning for their tax revenues. And yet the same governments routinely stop short of doing all that they can legally do to combat tax avoidance. Why? One response is that a thick conception of the rule of law constrains governments to adopt only certain kinds of responses to tax avoidance. Another response is that inherent structural limitations in tax administrative capacity or features of the political economy environment constrain the available responses to a subset of those that are possible de jure. Even considered jointly, however, the rule of law and political economy explanations do not provide an adequate account of the observed behavior of governments in the context of anti-avoidance. The main inadequacy is that the accounts fail to provide an explanation of the circumstances that will give rise to aggressive measures countering tax avoidance. This paper introduces the “integrated price discrimination” account of income taxation. The integrated price discrimination account provides an original and superior explanation of lax anti-avoidance. An advantage of the integrated price discrimination account is that it better explains the observed practice of most developed countries. Another advantage of the price discrimination account is that it does not require that governments adopt this counter-intuitive approach consciously; it could simply be an unintentional byproduct of decisions taken for different reasons. Several policy implications of the integrated price discrimination account are addressed.

What are Thick Concepts?

Many theorists hold that there is, among value concepts, a fundamental distinction betweenthinones andthickones. Among thin ones are concepts likegoodandright. Among concepts that have been regarded as thick arediscretion,caution,enterprise,industry,assiduity,frugality,economy,good sense,prudence,discernment,treachery,promise,brutality,courage, coward, lie, gratitude, lewd, perverted, rude, glorious, graceful, exploited, and, of course, many others. Roughly speaking, thick concepts are value concepts with significant descriptive content. I will discuss a number of problems having to do with how best to understand the notion of a thick concept. Thick concepts have been widely discussed in the metaethical literature. But some important problems concerning what thick concepts are supposed to be have not been squarely addressed even in the most systematic of these discussions. Here I want to highlight these problems.

Prediction of residual strength of corroded tensile steel plates

Recently, the damage due to deterioration of materials in many old steel bridge structures, which causes unavoidable strength reduction, is becoming a serious problem in Japan and all over the world. Therefore the remaining load-carrying capacities must be carefully evaluated in order to understand the feasibility of those steel structures for the current usage and to evaluate the necessity of retrofitting of selected corroded members to strengthen the existing structure. This paper proposes a new method to calculate the remaining yield and tensile strengths by using a concept of representative effective thickness (teff) with the correlation of initial thickness (t0) and the maximum corroded depth (tc,max), based on the results of many tensile coupon tests of actual corroded plates. Further, the feasibility of establishing of an analytical methodology to predict the residual strength capacities of a corroded steel member with fewer number of measuring points is also discussed.

Numerical method for predicting the elastic lateral distortional buckling moment of a mono-symmetric beam with web openings

When used as floor joists, the new mono-symmetric LiteSteel beam (LSB) sections require web openings to provide access for inspections and various services. The LSBs consist of two rectangular hollow flanges connected by a slender web, and are subjected to lateral distortional buckling effects in the intermediate span range. Their member capacity design formulae developed to date are based on their elastic lateral buckling moments, and only limited research has been undertaken to predict the elastic lateral buckling moments of LSBs with web openings. This paper addresses this research gap by reporting the development of web opening modelling techniques based on an equivalent reduced web thickness concept and a numerical method for predicting the elastic buckling moments of LSBs with circular web openings. The proposed numerical method was based on a formulation of the total potential energy of LSBs with circular web openings. The accuracy of the proposed method's use with the aforementioned modelling techniques was verified through comparison of its results with those of finite strip and finite element analyses of various LSBs.

Self-Knowledge, Action and the Language of Confession in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

This paper offers an outline of the central issue Hegel is concerned with in his discussion of spirit. The issue is: how can we possibly confirm our basic and comprehensive claims to validity? In the ‘Spirit’ section of the Phenomenology, Hegel focuses on what we nowadays would call ‘thick conceptions’. The corresponding claims to knowledge relate (a) to a general worldview and (b) to the objective norms embedded in this worldview. Furthermore, they also include (c) a claim to self-knowledge, which is correlated to both.Hegel suggests that if we want to validate these claims we should not look at merely given facts but at the actions performed on the basis of these claims — it's the deed that matters. But in making claims, we are also addressing others. The resulting questions are: How can they possibly recognise the action as a manifestation of the underlying principles? What follows for my self-knowledge if I accept that the judgement of others contributes to what the action really is and thus what it says about me?The first part of the paper explores the general framework underlying Hegel's discussion of spirit. The second part exemplifies Hegel's conception by referring to different cultural realisations of spirit put forward in the sixth chapter of his Phenomenology: the focus will be on Hegel's interpretation of Sophocles' tragedy, Antigone. In the brief, final part I would like to point to three features of Hegel's account of spirit that I take to be still worthy of consideration.

Thick Concepts and Practice

Thick Concepts and Practice