Global Cement Industry: Competitive and Institutional Dimensions

The cement industry is a capital intensive, energy consuming, and vital industry for sustaining infrastructure of nations. The international cement market –while constituting a small share of world industry output—has been growing at an increasing rate relative to local production in recent years. Attempts to protect the environment in developed countries –especially Europe—have caused cement production plants to shift to countries with less stringent environmental regulations. Along with continually rising real prices, this has created a concerning pattern on economic efficiency and environmental compliance. This paper attempts to critically analyze the forces affecting pricing and production of cement from two perspectives. Porter’s five forces serve as our tool to analyze the competitive forces that move the industry from a market economy standpoint. On the other hand, the institutional economics framework serves to explain how governments and policymakers influence the structure and production distribution in the global market. Our findings suggest that the cement industry does not follow expected patterns of a market economy model. Additionally, it does not fully behave along the institutional economics paradigm. Hence, neither perspective explains the pricing or nature of the market on its own. Combining market forces within an institutional setting provides a more clear understanding of price dynamics and industry performance. We find that local regulation alone is insufficient to ensure market efficiency due to weak institutional governance in developing countries aligned with private business interests of global cement firms. Moreover, the global impact of local environmental non-compliance generates economic spillover effects that cannot be corrected by market forces alone. Due to asymmetries in governance and structure, this paper recommends the establishment of an independent international regulatory body for the cement industry that serves to provide sustainable industry development guidelines within a global context.Keywords: cement – global industry– institutional economics – Porter competition – market niche

Student Placement in Egyptian Colleges

We study students placement in Egyptian colleges under the current demand/supply placement mechanism implemented in Egypt (e-mechanism). We show that the e-mechanism is not Pareto efficient nor strategy proof and, moreover, it can not be improved to accommodate Pareto efficiency nor strategy proofness. The final conclusion is that it is better, from an efficiency point of view, to adopt a matching algorithm, like the Gale-Shapley mechanism, in students placement.Student placement, Gale-Shapley mechanism, e-mechanism, Egypt

Student Placement in Egyptian Colleges

We study students placement in Egyptian colleges under the current demand/supply placement mechanism implemented in Egypt (e-mechanism). We show that the e-mechanism is not Pareto efficient nor strategy proof and, moreover, it can not be improved to accommodate Pareto efficiency nor strategy proofness. The final conclusion is that it is better, from an efficiency point of view, to adopt a matching algorithm, like the Gale-Shapley mechanism, in students placement

Analysis of Above-Ground Steel Storage Tanks Resting Over Piles or Stone Columns

Static and dynamic behavior of above-ground steel storage oil tanks resting on end bearing piles or stone columns are studied and analyzed using ADINA (2019) program. The studied soil profile is an upper soft clay soil layer, followed by an extended dense sand layer. The main purpose of this research is to explore to what extent stone columns can be used as an effective alternative to concrete piles under steel storage tanks. Therefore, many three-dimensional numerical models are conducted to analyze and study the performance of such tanks in both static and dynamic cases. Ten of the studied cases are steel tanks resting over stone columns with different numbers and properties. On other hand, one model studied the behavior of steel tank resting on large diameter concrete piles. Results indicate that stone columns can be used instead of end bearing piles as long as the computed settlements are safe. In addition, stone columns are behaving better than concrete piles in decreasing of hoop stress in tank shell. It is also noticed that stone columns with high elastic modulus are effective in reducing the sloshing height of the oil surface during earthquakes

Locating and Quantifying Necking in Piles Through Numerical Simulation of PIT

Defects of concrete piles can occur at any point during the construction of piles. Most common types of pile integrity issues are; presence of voids, inconsistency in concrete mix, entrapped groundwater or slurry, and geometric dislocation. These defects can be categorized based on the place in the construction sequence at which the defect occurs. This research introduces several numerical models of defected piles with various scenarios in order to identify, locate, and quantify the necking occurring in these piles. The finite element software (ADINA) is used to simulate the studied models. The soil domain is modeled as an axisymmetric space around the concrete pile. Five diameters of piles (40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 cm) are studied. Necking is modeled at three different locations along the pile namely; upper, middle, and bottom third. Four ratios between the necking diameter and pile diameter are also studied. The dynamic force used in this research is that simulating the pile integrity test (PIT) case, with 2.5 N impact load applied at the pile head, half wave of sinusoidal pattern, and 0.5 kilo hertz frequency. The time domain of the dynamic force analysis is equal to 0.0175 sec, and applied in 450 steps

Equicontinuous local dendrite maps

[EN] Let X be a local dendrite, and f : X → X be a map. Denote by E(X) the set of endpoints of X. We show that if E(X) is countable, then the following are equivalent:(1) f is equicontinuous;(2)  fn (X) = R(f);(3) f|  fn (X) is equicontinuous;(4) f| fn (X) is a pointwise periodic homeomorphism or is topologically conjugate to an irrational rotation of S 1 ;(5) ω(x, f) = Ω(x, f) for all x ∈ X.This result generalizes [17, Theorem 5.2], [24, Theorem 2] and [11, Theorem 2.8].Salem, AH.; Hattab, H.; Rejeiba, T. (2021). Equicontinuous local dendrite maps. Applied General Topology. 22(1):67-77. https://doi.org/10.4995/agt.2021.13446OJS6777221H. Abdelli, ω-limit sets for monotone local dendrite maps. Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, 71 (2015), 66-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chaos.2014.12.003H. Abdelli and H. Marzougui, Invariant sets for monotone local dendrite maps, Internat. J. Bifur. Chaos Appl. Sci. Engrg. 26, no. 9 (2016), 1650150 (10 pages). https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218127416501509E. Akin, J. Auslander and K. Berg, When is a transitive map chaotic?, in: Convergence in Ergodic Theory and Probability, Walter de Gruyter and Co., Berlin, 1996, pp. 25-40. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110889383.25G. Askri and I. Naghmouchi, Pointwise recurrence on local dendrites, Qual. Theory Dyn Syst 19, 6 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12346-020-00347-8F. Balibrea, T. Downarowicz, R. Hric, L. Snoha and V. Spitalsky, Almost totally disconnected minimal systems, Ergodic Th. & Dynam Sys. 29, no. 3 (2009), 737-766. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143385708000540F. Blanchard, B. Host and A. Maass, Topological complexity, Ergodic Th. & Dynam Sys. 20 (2000), 641-662. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143385700000341A. M. Blokh, Pointwise-recurrent maps on uniquely arcwise connected locally arcwise connected spaces, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 143 (2015), 3985-4000. https://doi.org/10.1090/S0002-9939-2015-12589-0A. M. Blokh, The set of all iterates is nowhere dense in C([0,1],[0,1]), Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 333, no. 2 (1992), 787-798. https://doi.org/10.1090/S0002-9947-1992-1153009-7W. Boyce, Γ-compact maps on an interval and fixed points, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 160 (1971), 87-102. https://doi.org/10.1090/S0002-9947-1971-0280655-1A. M. Bruckner and T. Hu, Equicontinuity of iterates of an interval map, Tamkang J. Math. 21, no. 3 (1990), 287-294.J. Camargo, M. Rincón and C. Uzcátegui, Equicontinuity of maps on dendrites, Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 126 (2019), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chaos.2019.05.033J. Cano, Common fixed points for a class of commuting mappings on an interval, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 86, no. 2 (1982), 336-338. https://doi.org/10.1090/S0002-9939-1982-0667301-2R. Gu and Z. Qiao, Equicontinuity of maps on figure-eight space, Southeast Asian Bull. Math. 25 (2001), 413-419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s100120100004A. Haj Salem and H. Hattab, Group action on local dendrites, Topology Appl. 247, no. 15 (2018), 91-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.topol.2018.08.002K. Kuratowski, Topology, vol. 2. New York: Academic Press; 1968.J. Mai, Pointwise-recurrent graph maps, Ergodic Th. & Dynam Sys. 25 (2005), 629-637. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143385704000720J. Mai, The structure of equicontinuous maps, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 355, no. 10 (2003), 4125-4136. https://doi.org/10.1090/S0002-9947-03-03339-7C. A. Morales, Equicontinuity on semi-locally connected spaces, Topology Appl. 198 (2016), 101-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.topol.2015.11.011S. Nadler, Continuum Theory. Inc., New York: Marcel Dekker; 1992.G. Su and B. Qin, Equicontinuous dendrites flows, Journal of Difference Equations and Applications 25, no. 12 (2019), 1744-1754. https://doi.org/10.1080/10236198.2019.1694012T. Sun, Equicontinuity of σ-maps, Pure and Applied Math. 16, no. 3 (2000), 9-14.T. Sun, Z. Chen, X. Liu and H. G. Xi, Equicontinuity of dendrite maps, Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 69 (2014), 10-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chaos.2014.08.010T. Sun, G. Wang and H. J. Xi, Equicontinuity of maps on a dendrite with finite branch points. Acta Mat. Sin. 33, no. 8 (2017), 1125-1130. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10114-017-6289-xT. Sun, Y. Zhang and X. Zhang, Equicontinuity of a graph map, Bull. Austral Math. Soc. 71 (2005), 61-67. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0004972700038016A. Valaristos, Equicontinuity of iterates of circle maps, Internat. J. Math. and Math. Sci. 21 (1998), 453-458. https://doi.org/10.1155/S016117129800062

Ungrammaticality as a feature of Spanish Phraseology: A case study

[ES] Mucho se ha cuestionado hasta el momento sobre la fraseología española en diferentes aspectos. A este respecto, nos interesó particularmente la existencia de algunas unidades agramaticales, del tipo a ojos vistas y a pie juntillas. En este artículo, trataremos la agramaticalidad que se distingue como propiedad característica de la fraseología española. A tal propósito, las unidades que forman el corpus de este trabajo proceden del Diccionario fraseológico documentado del español actual (Manuel Seco et al., 2004). El objetivo es delimitar la búsqueda de la agramaticalidad que afecta a un determinado número de las UFs del español, además de analizarlas desde una perspectiva morfosintáctica.[EN] Many academic papers have actually examined phraseological expressions from different perspectives. However, we noticed the existence of some irregular phraseological expressions that do not follow the regular syntactic system, such as a ojos vistas and a pie juntillas. For this reason, this article shall attempt to cast light on the irregularity of such expressions with the aim of realizing whether or not it is one of the distinctive features of the Spanish phraseology. For this purpose, the expressions, which constitute the corpus of this paper, are quoted from Diccionario fraseológico documentado del español actual (Manuel Seco et al., 2004). This paper aims to define irregularity that affects a certain number of the phraseological units in the Spanish language. In addition, it aims to analyze these expressions from a syntactic-morphological angle

Student Placement in Egyptian Colleges

We study students placement in Egyptian colleges under the current demand/supply placement mechanism implemented in Egypt (e-mechanism). We show that the e-mechanism is not Pareto efficient nor strategy proof and, moreover, it can not be improved to accommodate Pareto efficiency nor strategy proofness. The final conclusion is that it is better, from an efficiency point of view, to adopt a matching algorithm, like the Gale-Shapley mechanism, in students placement

FUENTES BIBLIOGRÁFICAS GENERALES PARA EL ESTUDIO DE LA FRASEOLOGIA ESPAÑOLA DESDE LA PERSPECTIVA DIDÁCTICA Y DE LA ENSEÑANZA DEL ESPAÑOL COMO LENGUA EXTRANJERA E/LE

Phraseology has received great interest by researchers over time. This is why we found dozens of works related to different perspectives of this discipline. It should be noted that this article comes as a continuation of some research works we have done over the past five years. The present paper includes the works that deal with phraseology from the didactic perspective and teaching Spanish as a foreign language. This bibliographical list mainly includes works published until 2018, that is, it has been updated for contemporary scholars in this branch of linguistics to provide them with a clear and global idea of the topics discussed in this regard. In this bibliographical repertoire, we deal with phraseology in its broad sense, that is, it encompasses collocations, idioms, phraseological statements and even proverbs. For easy consultation of this repertoire, we have divided the sources into several sections: articles published in journals and conferences; books or chapters of books dealing with the subject; and master's and doctoral dissertations. We are sure that these sources present a helpful guide for the study of this linguistic field.El campo de la fraseología ha suscitado el interés en los investigadores a lo largo de muchos años. Esto fue motivo de la aparición de decenas de trabajos relacionados con diferentes perspectivas de dicha disciplina. Este artículo viene como una continuación de algunos trabajos de investigación que hemos realizado a lo largo de los últimos cinco años. En este trabajo incluimos los trabajos que tratan la fraseología desde la perspectiva didáctica de la lengua además de aquellos relacionados con la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera. Esta relación bibliográfica recoge principalmente los trabajos publicados hasta 2018, es decir que está actualizada. Por ende, los investigadores de esta rama lingüística podrán tener una idea clara y global sobre los temas planteados al respecto. En este repertorio bibliográfico tratamos la fraseología desde su concepción amplia, es decir, que abarca las colocaciones, las locuciones, los enunciados fraseológicos e incluso las paremias. Para una fácil consulta, hemos dividido las fuentes en este repertorio en varias secciones: artículos publicados en revistas y en congresos, capítulos de libros y libros completos que tratan el tema; y memorias de máster y tesis doctorales. Estamos seguros de que estas fuentes representan una guía imprescindible para el estudio de este campo lingüístico

EL QUEHACER LEXICOGRÁFICO ESPAÑOL EN LÍNEA: EL PROYECTO DE LA BIBLIOTECA VIRTUAL DE FILOLOGÍA ESPAÑOLA COMO MODELO

This article is intended to be a reflection of the changes in the treatment of lexicography through computer innovation and its significant influence on the work of the human sciences. We all live a truth that the Internet has provided consulting a huge lexicographical production, so it is no longer necessary to physically go to a library to consult certain works because the very few copies of linguistics in general and lexicography in particular are within our reach trough a computer connected to the Internet. Due to this reason, it has been necessary to make the most of this tool by creating an updated lexicographical catalog, the Biblioteca Virtual de Filología Española -Virtual Library of Spanish Philology- (BVFE), which constitutes the model of the online Spanish lexicographical work.Este artículo es una reflexión sobre las modificaciones que ha experimentado el tratamiento de la lexicografía,debido a la influencia de la informática sobre la metodología de trabajo de las ciencias humanas. La red electrónica ha facilitado la consulta de una ingente producción lexicográfica, tornando menos urgente el acceso físico a las bibliotecas. Por ende, ha sido preciso emplear esta herramienta para la creación de catálogoslexicográficosactualizados, como el de la Biblioteca Virtual de Filología Española (BVFE), el cual constituye un modelo del quehacer lexicográfico español en línea