Institutional theory and the policy problem of vocational education and training and its development: the Egyptian case

This thesis extends analysis of the policy problem of Egyptian Vocational Education and Training (VET) beyond the current supply/demand mismatch perspective and into a broader institutional analytic framework. It critically deploys concepts from Whitley‘s institutional framework (1999) and Wood and Frynas‘ (2006) Segmented Business Systems (SBS) archetype to the problem, complementing them with historical and political dimensions. These illustrate the continuities and discontinuities in key institutional features and relationships influencing VET since the military coup in the 1950s and through subsequent paradigm shifts. The institutional analysis illustrates that VET is embedded in a set of incoherent institutional arrangements that have constrained systemic development. Further, they have not supported development towards Western models suggested by international organisations. These have had limited effect. A key institutional relationship for VET; state-employer-union cooperation, is currently being developed by the ILO through its Social Dialogue Project (ILO SDP). This could, if effectively realised, enhance institutional actors‘ participation in VET and hence its effectiveness. This proposition is examined through empirical investigation of institutional actors‘ (i) mutual perceptions of state-employer-union cooperation and contributions to VET; and (ii) their perceptions of the ILO SDP and the ways in which it has influenced VET. These responses are verified on an enterprise level through two cases in the tourism sector. The investigation took place in three phases from July 2008 to April 2010 in Egypt, Switzerland and the UK, through triangulated data collection: documentation, 60 interviews, 2 focus groups and observation. The findings have theoretical and practical implications. On a theoretical level, the proposition that Egypt largely corresponds to the SBS archetype is confirmed. Suggestions for modifying Whitley‘s institutional framework include (i) a better integration of historical and political dimensions; and (ii) the inclusion of international organisations as a key institutional influence on state relations with social actors in developing countries. Practical conclusions confirm the ineffective levels of state-employer-union cooperation and contributions to VET. ILO attempts to develop these relationships through social dialogue were perceived to be largely ineffective by institutional actors. The ILO SDP has been constrained by institutional incoherencies which are difficult to change in the short- to medium term. Some positive experiences of effective state-employer-union cooperation and employer-employee interdependence were reported on regional and enterprise levels. These could possibly be expanded on by the ILO SDP as a bottom-up approach to enhancing social dialogue. Finally, the 2011 events could offer new institutional opportunities for enhanced representation of social actors in socio-economic matters which could possibly lead to their effective cooperation in VET and its development; an area which could be pursued in future research

Novel CCII-based Field Programmable Analog Array and its Application to a Sixth-Order Butterworth LPF

In this paper, a field programmable analog array (FPAA) is proposed. The proposed FPAA consists of seven configurable analog blocks (CABs) arranged in a hexagonal lattice such that the CABs are directly connected to each other. This structure improves the overall frequency response of the chip by decreasing the parasitic capacitances in the signal path. The CABS of the FPAA is based on a novel fully differential digitally programmable current conveyor (DPCCII). The programmability of the DPCCII is achieved using digitally controlled three-bit MOS ladder current division network. No extra biasing circuit is required to generate specific analog control voltage signals. The DPCCII has constant standby power consumption, offset voltage, bandwidth and harmonic distortions over all its programming range. A sixth-order Butterworth tunable LPF suitable for WLAN/WiMAX receivers is realized on the proposed FPAA. The filter power consumption is 5.4mW from 1V supply; it’s cutoff frequency is tuned from 5.2 MHz to 16.9 MHz. All the circuits are realized using 90nm CMOS technology from TSMC. All simulations are carried out using Cadence

Ground state and electronic structures of the series Li2Cu1−xSxSb with (x = 0, 1/8, 2/8, 3/8, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 1)

AbstractLi2CuSb is considered as multifunctional material, electrode for high capacity of rechargeable batteries and novel material for second harmonic generation. First principle electronic structure calculations of series Li2Cu1−xSxSb (with x = 0, 1/8, 2/8, 3/8, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 1) has been done. New optimized distribution has been introduced for atoms among the allowed positions of the Heusler structure Li2CuSb. The primary compound Li2CuSb is a Heusler compound based on one 3d transition metal. The injection of S into Li2CuSb, instead of Cu, introduces a new aspects about the important role of 3d in the electrical properties of the compound. Theoretical investigation of the effect of atomic positions on the properties of the series is included. These calculations show that moving Li atom from the surface of the unit cell into the inside improves the compound applications in the high capacity of rechargeable batteries. The present calculations are in agreement with the previous theoretical and experimental publications in the increase of capacity [1,2]. Band structure and DOS indicate an increase in the density of states at Fermi level with more dispersion for the occupied states of Li2Cu7S1Sb and Li2Cu1S7Sb. As a result, the electronic specific heat coefficient and the conductivity increases

A unified approach for numerical simulation of viscous compressible and incompressible flows over adiabatic and isothermal walls

A new formulation (including the choice of variables, their non-dimensionalization, and the form of the artificial viscosity) is proposed for the numerical solution of the full Navier-Stokes equations for compressible and incompressible flows with heat transfer. With the present approach, the same code can be used for constant as well as variable density flows. The changes of the density due to pressure and temperature variations are identified and it is shown that the low Mach number approximation is a special case. At zero Mach number, the density changes due to the temperature variation are accounted for, mainly through a body force term in the momentum equation. It is also shown that the Boussinesq approximation of the buoyancy effects in an incompressible flow is a special case. To demonstrate the new capability, three examples are tested. Flows in driven cavities with adiabatic and isothermal walls are simulated with the same code as well as incompressible and supersonic flows over a wall with and without a groove. Finally, viscous flow simulations of an oblique shock reflection from a flat plate are shown to be in good agreement with the solutions available in literature

Semiclassical Hartree-Fock theory of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensation

In this paper, we investigate the thermodynamic behavior of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensation with non-zero interatomic interactions theoretically. The analysis relies on a semiclassical Hartree-Fock approximation where an integral is performed over the phase space and function of the grand canonical ensemble is derived. Subsequently, we use this result to derive several thermodynamic quantities including the condensate fraction, critical temperature, entropy and heat capacity. Thereby, we investigate the effect of the rotation rate and interactions parameter on the thermodynamic behavior. The role of finite size is discussed. Our approach can be extended to consider the rotating condensate in optical potential

Interleaving Gains for Receive Diversity Schemes of Distributed Turbo Codes in Wireless Half–Duplex Relay Channels

This paper proposes the interleaving gain in two different distributed turbo-coding schemes: Distributed Turbo Codes (DTC) and Distributed Multiple Turbo Codes (DMTC) for half-duplex relay system as an extension of our previous work on turbo coding interleaver design for direct communication channel. For these schemes with half-duplex constraint, the source node transmits its information with the parity bit sequence(s) to both the relay and the destination nodes during the first phase. The relay received the data from the source and process it by using decode and forward protocol. For the second transmission period, the decoded systematic data at relay is interleaved and re-encoded by a Recursive Systematic Convolutional (RSC) encoder and forwarded to the destination. At destination node, the signals received from the source and relay are processed by using turbo log-MAP iterative decoding for retrieving the original information bits. We demonstrate via simulations that the interleaving gain has a large effect with DTC scheme when we use only one RSC encoder at both the source and relay with best performance when using Modified Matched S-Random (MMSR) interleaver. Furthermore, by designing a Chaotic Pseudo Random Interleaver (CPRI) as an outer interleaver at the source node instead of classical interleavers, our scheme can add more secure channel conditions