Critical rationalism and macrosociology of globalisation

Phd ThesisThis thesis employs Critical Rationalism—an inter-subjective theory of rationality originated in Karl Popper’s conjectural theory of knowledge— in order to develop a new macrosociology of globalisation. It describes contemporary globalisation as the formation of a liberal globality through which the centrality of the Hobbesian struggle for political power has been superseded with the Lockean competition for economic interests. But the thesis argues that liberal globalisation suffers from fundamental societal deficits due to a global organisation of people based on economic competition rather than rational dialogue and social cooperation. The central question of thesis therefore is that ‘how emerging utilitarian-based liberal globality can be transformed into a global society of free and equal citizens?’ The thesis argues that people’s potential access to critical rationality enables them to agree upon one set of globally shared values concerning the equality of people and people-centric global institutions, which are required for creating a global society of free and equal citizens. Through its macrosociological analysis the thesis addresses the question of how such a system of globally shared values can operate as the cultural driving force of a radical global institutional change from the Lockean logic of economic competition to the Kantian logic of dialogue and social cooperation. The thesis concludes that intellectuals can employ the ideal-type of an open global society of free and equal persons in order to persuade global social movements to work for realising such a fundamental global institutional change towards a just and free global society

Transient stability analysis using potential energy indices for determining critical generator sets

In this paper, we propose the enhancement of existing power system stability analysis techniques through the use of a proposed set of potential energy indices, applied for observing the separation of generators into critical sets during transient events. This proposed potential-energy-based description of system transient stability behavior permits the formation of a critical generator cutset, which is then used in a quantitative single machine equivalent (SIME) energy-function analysis of system stability. The derivation of the method will show that the proposed potential energy indices do not rely on a detailed representation of the network model, making the indices suitable for use in a variety of applications. This method enhances the current capabilities of SIME analysis for pre-fault offline stability studies, but may also be useful for near-real-time stability analysis, owing to the lack of dependence of the proposed potential energy indices on the network parameters. The ability to utilize the proposed indices without the need for network parameters or fault location information, typically obtained from updated SCADA data, potentially allows the proposed method to be applied for real-time stability analysis utilizing only PMU input data

P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Assessment of the role of technical vocational education and training (TVET) in creating opportunities and capacities required at home businesses

Background and Objectives:The world today, with the development of technology and the resulting wide-ranging changes, has forced countries to shift from a "resource-based economy" approach to a "knowledge-based economy" approach, and this has led to three axes of innovation, technology and competence. The process of development and progress is of considerable importance. Improving the competencies and skills of human resources and their learning abilities through lifelong training such as technical and vocational training are the most important tools to access this axis. On the other hand, the training of human resources required by societies in the form of technical and vocational training from the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, has attracted the attention of many countries around the world. Following scientific and industrial advances after World War II, these teachings expanded unprecedentedly in the world. As of today, the technical and vocational training of the Ministry of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare after education is moving in many countries, especially in industrial societies, to meet the economic and social needs as much as possible. It can be claimed that technical and vocational trainings, due to the combination of theoretical and practical trainings, have a great capacity to form human capital and train scientific workers. The role of employment in the dynamics of human life is undeniable and it can be considered as the center of human-community relations. Today's world is witnessing major changes in business and work environments. On the one hand, organizations are becoming smaller and more flexible, and on the other hand, the boundaries between home and work are blurring. In fact, the development of small and fast-growing enterprises in most of the world's economic systems is now accepted as a necessity. Meanwhile, the training of technical and professional organizations in home-based businesses, due to the alignment of theoretical and practical training, have a considerable ability to form human capital. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of technical and vocational training in creating opportunities and capacities in relation to home-based jobs in Qazvin. Methods: According to the community of home-based businesses in Qazvin, the type of research is based on documentary and field studies of a population of 100 members. The research instrument was a questionnaire whose validity and reliability have been confirmed Findings: The chi-square test was used to analyze the inferential statistics. Results were analyzed by SPSS software and indicated that the significance level of the critical value is lower supporting significant impact for technical and vocational training on home jobs. Also, the significant impact of the goals of technical and vocational education has been confirmed on creating more opportunities in relation to home-based businesses. But reaching this goal requires more attention from relevant authorities in this regard. Conclusion: Home business can be one of the best offers for people in today's situation; but walking this transcendent path requires overcoming the fears inevitably raise during the action and prevent the individual from moving in the direction that leads to individual and collective growth. The important thing is that one needs ideas that can be commercialized to get started. In fact, when an idea comes to their mind, they should visualize how to implement it as a roadmap for themselves, and if they see the success of implementing that idea in their desired conditions, they should start working. In addition, the discussion of counseling should not be neglected. Observing and examining people who have been able to achieve increasing success in similar situations can be another suggestion that acts as an accelerator in the path of work, technical and professional training in the meantime can be a significant way to achieve the goals of employees in the field including home businesses

Presenting A Model For Distributing Books in Iran Based on Structural Equation Models

The present study was conducted to provide a suitable model for book distribution in Iran. This research is applied in terms of purpose, and the research method is mixed (qualitative: grounded theory; and quantitative: analytical survey). The data were collected through a series of semi-structured interviews at the qualitative stage. The population of the qualitative section consisted of 10 book distribution experts who were selected by using the snowball method; for the second population, 118 book distributors were purposefully selected, and the research questionnaire was distributed among them. The MAXQDA software was used to determine the qualitative section's concepts, categories, and subcategories. Then the paradigm of book distribution in Iran was identified. The model was determined using PLS software in the form of descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling in the quantitative section. In the qualitative section, the five cultural, economic, legal and political, substructural, and professional factors were identified; the results of the quantitative section showed that the cultural dimension had a weak relationship with distribution factors, and the relationship was vital for other dimensions. It can be said that the cultural dimension has the lowest intensity of the relationship, and the substructural dimension, economic dimension, professional dimension, and legal and political dimension have the highest intensity correlation with distribution factors, respectively. The most influential factors influencing book distribution were the lack of reading culture, inadequate distribution, unprofitability, weak rules, and unprincipled publishing support. The most effective way to improve the distribution was to strengthen the professional distributors. Distribution channels of goods and cultural services in Iran are mainly traditional. Moreover, the traditional distribution network, lack of use of new technologies, the long flow path of goods, the minimal share of bookstores in the distribution system, weakness of distribution substructures, lack of manpower skills in the distribution sector, and lack of capable public and private distribution networks cause inefficiency of the book distribution network and result in consumer dissatisfaction

A method to improve transparency of electronic election process without identification

Transparency of bank accounts, nowadays, is an undeniable necessity, but no one denies that definite transparency throughout election process is not realized thus far in the world. This calls for fundamental changes in traditional electronic election methods. The new method must close the way for any complaints by the candidate as to the voting process as the public completely trusts in the voting mechanism. Synchronizing voting and votes counting improves the public's trust in the results of election. The proposed secure room-corridor of electronic voting employs election watchers and reports real time results of election along with observance of confidentiality of the votes. © 2015 The Authors

Time-based fault location method for LVdistributionsystems

© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Due to the utilization of fundamental frequency, current impedance-based fault location methods are able to locate only permanent and linear faults. The duration of the arc in low and medium voltage systems can be as short as a quarter of a cycle. This period, which is normal for intermittent faults, is insufficient for fundamental frequency-based fault location algorithms. Therefore, available methods are not applicable for intermittent arcing fault location. In this paper, the time-based method previously proposed by the authors has been developed to locate short duration faults in LV distribution systems. The advantage of the proposed method over available methods is its capability for locating faults using fewer samples, which enable the user to locate both arcing faults as well as normal faults in the network. The main characteristics of an arcing fault, i.e., non-linearity and short duration, have been addressed in the proposed algorithms methodology. Various characteristics of a LV distribution system (i.e., heterogeneity, unbalanced load and line, etc.) have been taken into account in the current enhanced algorithm. The validity of the devised algorithm is studied within PSCAD-EMTDC environment and the obtained results show a good accuracy

Comprehensive distribution network fault location using the distributed parameter model

A typical low-or medium-voltage distribution feeder consists of numerous branches as well as laterals and heterogenic conductor lines. The lack of measurement points and the presence of unbalanced loads make it more complicated for the construction of fault-location algorithms. In this paper, a brief and comprehensive review is presented which introduces and compares published papers in this area to date. In addition, the authors have devised a single-end fault-location algorithm using the distributed parameter model to overcome all of the aforementioned limitations in distribution feeders. The validity of the devised algorithm is studied within the PSCAD-EMTDC environment. This model provides more accurate results as the distributed nature of losses and capacitive effects are considered whereas in the available algorithms, these are ignored. A comparison which is made between the proposed method and two of the most complete available algorithms shows the superiority of our algorithm. Also, the proposed algorithm is able to locate various fault types in the network that has different phase laterals unbalanced loads and heterogeneity of the feeder line. © 2011 IEEE