Design estratégico para promover Interações Cidade-Cidadão

Just as people are crucial to places’ existence, they are also essential to their brand. Motivated by the curiosity to explore the role of citizens in city branding, this research was undertaken by investigating extant theories, practices and – most importantly – citizens’ opinions on participating in the city branding process. The key research finding was that citizens’ perceptions of the city are formed by their experiences: in the city, including the physical and virtual space of the city, and with the city, through their interactions with its other inhabitants. This presented an opportunity to provide pragmatic guidelines to city marketers and governments to assist the development of citizen-centric branding initiatives led by strategic design. An Interactions framework was developed, placing citizens’ perceptions at its core and mobilising interactions across three levels: where the interactions can take place, who can aid the interactions and how designers can facilitate interactions to invoke participation. It became evident that design-led interactions can generate innovative ways of city branding. Keywords: city branding, city brand management, City-Citizen Interactions, strategic design.Assim como as pessoas são cruciais para a existência de lugares, eles também são essenciais para a sua marca. Motivada pela curiosidade de explorar o papel dos cidadãos na marca da cidade, esta pesquisa foi realizada investigando as teorias existentes, práticas e sobretudo as opiniões dos cidadãos sobre a participação no processo de marca da cidade. O principal resultado da pesquisa foi que as percepções dos cidadãos sobre a cidade são formadas por suas experiências: na cidade, incluindo o espaço físico e virtual da cidade, e com a cidade, por meio de suas interações com seus outros habitantes. Isto apresentou uma oportunidade de fornecer diretrizes pragmáticas para os comerciantes da cidade e governos para auxiliar o desenvolvimento de iniciativas centradas no cidadão lideradas pelo design estratégico. Uma estrutura de Interações foi desenvolvida, colocando as percepções dos cidadãos em seu núcleo e mobilizando interações em três níveis: onde as interações podem ter lugar, quem pode ajudar as interações e como os designers podem facilitar as interações para invocar a participação. Tornou-se evidente que interações direcionadas pelo design podem gerar formas inovadoras de marca da cidade.Palavras-chave: marca da cidade, gestão da marca da cidade, Interações Cidade-Cidadão, desenho estratégico

Takaful and its business models

Westliche Versicherungen werden unter islamischem Gesetz als rechtswidrig betrachtet, da sie gegen mindestens drei Verbote verstoßen. Zu diesen zählen das Verbot von Unsicherheit in Verträgen (gharar), das Verbot der Spekulation (maisir) sowie das Zinsverbot (riba). Takaful stellt als Islamische Versicherung eine Alternative zur herkömmlichen Versicherung dar. Takaful berücksichtigt islamische Grundsätze und basiert auf dem Prinzip der gegenseitigen Hilfe. Ein Hauptunterscheidungsmerkmal zur konventionellen Versicherung ist die Verwendung eines Spendenvertrags (tabarru’), der den gewöhnlichen Kaufvertrag ersetzt. Die Versicherten zahlen in einen gemeinsamen Fonds ein und teilen damit das Risiko ähnlich wie bei einem Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit. Der Versicherer oder besser gesagt der Takaful Operator verwaltet lediglich den Fonds und berechnet dafür Gebühren. Schwerpunkt der Magisterarbeit liegt auf der Auseinandersetzung mit den verschiedenen Takaful-Modellen, die in der Praxis zur Anwendung kommen. Diesbezüglich werden die vier geläufigsten Geschäftsmodelle dargestellt und erörtert. Dazu gehören das Wakalah Modell, das Mudarabah Modell, das Waqf Modell sowie eine Kombination der ersten beiden Modelle. Im Grunde unterscheiden sich die Modelle nur in der Beziehung zwischen dem Takaful Operator und den Versicherten und in der sich daraus ergebenden Vergütung des Operators. Insgesamt kann keine eindeutige Präferenz für ein Geschäftsmodell festgestellt werden, sondern lediglich regionale Tendenzen. Endziel wäre jedoch ein standardisiertes Takaful-Modell. Retakaful (Islamische Rückversicherung) ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der gesamten Takaful-Branche, um nachhaltigen Erfolg sicher zu stellen. Takaful zeigt ein immenses Potential mit jährlichen Wachstumsraten von weit über 20%. Die islamische Versicherungsbranche befindet sich noch in ihrer Anlaufphase. Damit hat sie die besten Voraussetzungen, um von vielversprechenden Möglichkeiten zu profitieren, muss sich aber im Gegenzug auch einigen Herausforderungen stellen.Conventional insurance is considered as unlawful under the Islamic law as it involves at least three forbidden elements, namely gharar (uncertainty), maisir (speculation) and riba (interest). In order to align insurance with Islamic principles, takaful (Islamic insurance) was introduced. Takaful is based on the concepts of mutual assistance and tabarru’ (voluntary contribution). In a typical takaful undertaking, the risk funds of the participants (policyholders) operate on a mutual basis, but are managed by a takaful operator which is a company with shareholders. Main focus of this thesis is an examination of the different business models of takaful applied in practice. In this respect, the four most common takaful models, namely the mudarabah, the wakalah, the combined and the waqf model, are explained and discussed in detail. In principle, these business models differ solely in the definition of the relationship between the operator and the participants and the thereof resulting kind of remuneration of the operator. There is no clear overall preference of one business model, only regional trends can be observed. However, the ultimate goal is a uniform business model. Retakaful (Islamic reinsurance) represents an essential part of the whole takaful industry in order to ensure its sustainable growth. Takaful business shows an enormous potential with growth rates of way beyond 20% annually. The industry is still in its start-up phase and therefore promising great opportunities but also facing several challenges

Branding Northamptonshire - Whose job is it anyway? : Exploring the Role of Stakeholders in Region Branding

Differentiated place branding based on geographical scales such as city, region and nation is regarded as an integral part of theory building in the field. However, ‘regions’ are the least explored scale in place branding, in comparison with city and nation, even though regions are important in the context of development (Herstein, 2012). In the age of city-centric development, the mesoscale can enable towns, villages and hinterlands to gain a competitive advantage by pooling resources for the betterment of the whole region (Turok, 2004). The existing literature on region branding suggests that – management of local place brands and stakeholders in the region – are the two key aspects of ‘region brand management’ (Hanna and Rowley, 2015; Ikuta et al., 2007)

Challenges in utilisation of small family norm

Background: India is the most populous country in the world, sustaining 17.5% of the world’s population on 2.4% of the world’s surface area. Despite of India being the first country to formulate a National Family Planning Programme in 1952, the population of India continues to rise. Therefore a basic question arises, as to why do couple have a third child? For stabilization of population every couple must on an average have 2.2 children, but how far our family planning programmes having an impact on the beneficiaries, in terms of their ideologies and utilisation of the programme. To get answers to the above question the present study was undertaken with the following aims and objectives to determine the views about ideal family size and ideal spacing, to determine the degree of knowledge about various contraceptive methods, to know the family size amongst population not adopting small family norm and to know the reason for non-acceptance of family planning methods.Methods: This was a hospital based case control study. Cases were women with two live children and not practicing family planning. Controls included women who opted for family planning methods and adopted the two child norm. Both cases and controls were asked to fill up a questionnaire.Results: Most people practicing small family norm view ideal number of issues ≤ 2 i.e. 88% of males and 91% of females. 59.8% couples not practicing family planning, think ideal spacing ≤ 2 years. 100% controls had the concept of contraception.Conclusions: Desire for a male child in 30.6% cases is the most common reason for couples not following the 2 child norm

Exploring Stakeholder Collaboration in Place Branding Strategies: The Case of Northamptonshire

A distinguishing feature of ‘place branding’ in comparison to the mainstream product or corporate branding is the complexity of managing diverse stakeholders of the place. While participatory place branding is being advocated as a preferred model for implementation and development, few normative model and guidelines are available. In accordance with participatory place branding, this research asserts that all stakeholders must at least have the opportunity to be involved in place branding. However, it appears that institutional stakeholders predominantly decide the extent and level of participation of community stakeholders. For their part, community stakeholders have their own motivations and also encounter barriers to participation. Thus, this study seeks to understand how stakeholders’ perceptions relate to collaboration in ‘region branding’. It focuses on region branding since regions are the least explicated scale in place branding even though regions are important for their development and governance context. A single case study strategy has been applied in this study by examining the county-region of Northamptonshire. Stakeholders from public sector agencies, private businesses and the local community of Northamptonshire will be engaged via semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to investigate stakeholders’ perceptions towards collaboration in creating a regional place brand

Exploring Stakeholder Participation and Representations in Region Branding: The Case of Northamptonshire, UK

Collaborative multi-stakeholder processes for regional development are not novel, but they are usually inhibited by complex management issues and power politics. Peripheral regions face the greatest likelihood of economic decline due to the aggregation of activities in the largest cities. Stakeholder-led place branding strategies have been known to create a distinctive identity and narrative about a place or location to garner recognition. However, few models and recommendations have been developed for adoption in resource-constrained regions. Given this socio-economic context specificity, the present study suggests a ‘Conceptual Framework for Multi-Stakeholder Place Brand Governance’ for developing region branding strategies. The theoretical notions of social representations, regional cohesion, brand architecture and participatory place branding are reviewed and examined in the case context of Northamptonshire. The research adopts a qualitative, single case study strategy to investigate the social representations and participation of institutional and community stakeholders. Data from semi-structured interviews, focus groups and secondary documents are thematically analysed. The findings reveal dominant social representations, historically unequal development in urban and rural areas, and the marginalised position or feeling of neglect in the case context. A market-oriented approach is evident in the narrow interpretation of place branding as a tourism marketing exercise. An in depth exploration of stakeholders’ assumed and expected roles reveals the intertwined issues of inclusiveness and legitimacy of place branding. Brand architecture strategies are suggested to manage the critical issues hindering a cohesive approach to region branding. The research aim is achieved by linking complex brand and stakeholder relationships under one framework. Special attention is paid to stakeholder management by conceptualising roles, relationships and mechanisms for multi-stakeholder place brand governance. Finally, the practical implications for widening participation in a resource-constrained region are discussed. The recommendations are directed towards practitioners and policymakers who play a prominent role in brand governance since institutional recognition and support are found to be central to diversifying the social representations and participation in place branding

Оценка экологической опасности отходов горнодобывающих предприятий республики Хакасия с применением метода биотестирования

Представлены результаты геохимического анализа проб отходов горнодобывающих предприятий Республики Хакасия и их биотестирования. При биотестировании в эксперименте с использованием тест-объекта Drosophila melanogaster оценивались: соотношение полов, морфозы, высота подъема куколок, средняя длина тела и крыла по отношению к концентрации пробы в среде. Сделаны выводы о воздействии отходов на живые объекты, выделены химические элементы, оказывающие токсическое действие

Design estratégico para promover Interações Cidade-Cidadão

Just as people are crucial to places’ existence, they are also essential to their brand. Motivated by the curiosity to explore the role of citizens in city branding, this research was undertaken by investigating extant theories, practices and – most importantly – citizens’ opinions on participating in the city branding process. The key research finding was that citizens’ perceptions of the city are formed by their experiences: in the city, including the physical and virtual space of the city, and with the city, through their interactions with its other inhabitants. This presented an opportunity to provide pragmatic guidelines to city marketers and governments to assist the development of citizen-centric branding initiatives led by strategic design. An Interactions framework was developed, placing citizens’ perceptions at its core and mobilising interactions across three levels: where the interactions can take place, who can aid the interactions and how designers can facilitate interactions to invoke participation. It became evident that design-led interactions can generate innovative ways of city branding. Keywords: city branding, city brand management, City-Citizen Interactions, strategic design.Assim como as pessoas são cruciais para a existência de lugares, eles também são essenciais para a sua marca. Motivada pela curiosidade de explorar o papel dos cidadãos na marca da cidade, esta pesquisa foi realizada investigando as teorias existentes, práticas e sobretudo as opiniões dos cidadãos sobre a participação no processo de marca da cidade. O principal resultado da pesquisa foi que as percepções dos cidadãos sobre a cidade são formadas por suas experiências: na cidade, incluindo o espaço físico e virtual da cidade, e com a cidade, por meio de suas interações com seus outros habitantes. Isto apresentou uma oportunidade de fornecer diretrizes pragmáticas para os comerciantes da cidade e governos para auxiliar o desenvolvimento de iniciativas centradas no cidadão lideradas pelo design estratégico. Uma estrutura de Interações foi desenvolvida, colocando as percepções dos cidadãos em seu núcleo e mobilizando interações em três níveis: onde as interações podem ter lugar, quem pode ajudar as interações e como os designers podem facilitar as interações para invocar a participação. Tornou-se evidente que interações direcionadas pelo design podem gerar formas inovadoras de marca da cidade.Palavras-chave: marca da cidade, gestão da marca da cidade, Interações Cidade-Cidadão, desenho estratégico

Fluctuations of steps on crystal surfaces

Fluctuations of isolated and pairs of ascending steps of monoatomic height are studied in the framework of SOS models, using mainly Monte Carlo techniques. Below the roughening transistion of the surface, the profiles of long steps show the same scaling features for terrace and surface diffusion. For a pair of short steps, their separation distance is found to grow as $t^{1/3}$ at late stages. Above roughening, simulational data on surface diffusion agree well with the classical continuum theory of Mullins.Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figure

Strategic design to foster City-Citizen Interactions

Just as people are crucial to places’ existence, they are also essential to their brand. Motivated by the curiosity to explore the role of citizens in city branding, this research was undertaken by investigating extant theories, practices and – most importantly – citizens’ opinions on participating in the city branding process. The key research finding was that citizens’ perceptions of the city are formed by their experiences: in the city, including the physical and virtual space of the city, and with the city, through their interactions with its other inhabitants. This presented an opportunity to provide pragmatic guidelines to city marketers and governments to assist the development of citizen-centric branding initiatives led by strategic design. An Interactions framework was developed, placing citizens’ perceptions at its core and mobilising interactions across three levels: where the interactions can take place, who can aid the interactions and how designers can facilitate interactions to invoke participation. It became evident that design-led interactions can generate innovative ways of city branding