Politische Steuerung – heute?

In diesem aus Anlaß der Verleihung des in Erinnerung an Niklas Luhmann gestifteten Bielefelder Wissenschaftspreises gehaltenen Vortrag setzen sich die Autoren mit Luhmanns These von der grundsätzlichen selbstreferentiellen Geschlossenheit funktioneller Teilsysteme auseinander. Am Beispiel des Verhältnisses von Politik und Wirtschaft zeigen sie, daß die Wirtschaft auf nationaler Ebene heute zwar weniger zielgerecht gesteuert werden kann als noch vor einigen Jahrzehnten, dass dafür jedoch nicht die Selbstreferenzialität des ökonomischen Systems, sondern vornehmlich politische Entscheidungen verantwortlich sind, die das Hinauswachsen der Wirtschaft über nationale Grenzen ermöglicht und begünstigt haben.In this lecture, held in response to the awarding of the Bielefelder Wissenschaftspreis established in honor of Niklas Luhmann, the authors debate Luhmann’s thesis of the self-referential closure of functional subsystems of society. Using the relationship between politics and the economy as case in point, the authors argue that national economic policy may indeed operate today under more severe constraints than was true several decades ago; but this is largely the consequence of deliberately taken political decisions favoring economic globalization and not the effect of a basic autopoietic closure of the economic subsystem

International capital mobility in an era of globalisation: adding a political dimension to the 'Feldstein–Horioka Puzzle'

The debate about the scope of feasible policy-making in an era of globalisation continues to be set within the context of an assumption that national capital markets are now perfectly integrated at the international level. However, the empirical evidence on international capital mobility contradicts such an assumption. As a consequence, a significant puzzle remains. Why is it, in a world in which the observed pattern of capital flows is indicative of a far from globalised reality, that public policy continues to be constructed in line with more extreme variants of the globalisation hypothesis? I attempt to solve this puzzle by arguing that ideas about global capital market integration have an independent causal impact on political outcomes which extends beyond that which can be attributed to the extent of their actual integration

Pratt and Whitney/Boeing Engine Validation of Noise Reduction Concepts: Final Report for NASA Contract NAS3-97144, Phase 1

Major airports in the world's air transportation systems face a serious problem in providing greater capacity to meet the ever increasing demands of air travel. This problem could be relieved if airports are allowed to increase their operating time, now restricted by curfews and by relaxing present limits on takeoffs and landings. The key operational issue in extending the present curfews is noise. In response to these increasing restrictive noise regulations, NASA has launched a program to validate through engine testing, noise reduction concepts and technologies that have evolved from the Advanced Subsonic Technologies (AST) Noise Reduction Program. The goal of this AST program was to develop and validate technology that reduces engine noise and improves nacelle suppression effectiveness relative to 1992 technology. Contract NAS3-97144 titled "Engine Validation of Noise Reduction Concepts" (EVNRC) was awarded to P&W on August 12, 1997 to conduct full scale noise reduction tests in two Phases on a PW4098 engine. The following Section 1.2 provides a brief description of the overall program. The remainder of this report provides a detailed documentation of Phase I of the program

Institutions as constraints and resources: explaining cross-national divergence in performance management

This article compares performance management practices in call centres from four telecommunications firms in the UK, France, Denmark, and Germany. Findings show that different combinations of institutional constraints, such as strong job security protections, and participation resources supporting worker voice were influential in shaping choices among HRM policies to motivate and discipline workers. Performance management most closely approached a high involvement model where both constraints and resources were high: where worker representatives were able both to restrict management’s use of sanctions and to establish procedures that improved the perceived fairness of incentives. Findings contribute to debates concerning the role of contextual factors in the design and effectiveness of HRM

The sum of its parts? Sources of local legitimacy

The article analyses the sources of local actors’ legitimacy perceptions towards international peacebuilding operations. Local legitimacy perceptions are increasingly recognised as shaping local behaviour towards international peacebuilding, which influences the effective functioning of the operation. Legitimacy debates in peacebuilding are either absent or imported from the literature on domestic legitimacy, without respect to the specific temporal and spatial situation of international operations. The article first explores which legitimacy sources influence local legitimacy perceptions of international peacebuilding operations. It finds that two sources are relevant: output and procedure. Second, it investigates how exactly legitimacy arises from them. In doing so, it demonstrates that output and procedure are umbrella terms comprising several sub-elements which influence legitimacy in different, sometimes contradictory, ways. Finally, the article empirically explores which of the sources are important to local actors’ legitimacy perceptions using field data from the EU peacebuilding operations EULEX in Kosovo and EUPM Bosnia-Herzegovina

Prevenção da formação de hidratos em gasodutos submarinos

Ao longo do processo de transporte do gás natural em gasodutos submarinos até as Unidades de Processamento, a indústria petrolífera pode enfrentar diversos problemas, dentre eles, a formação de hidratos. O ambiente submarino possui condições propicias de pressão (alta) e temperatura (baixa) para que estas estruturas sólidas se formem. Os hidratos são problemas críticos para a garantia de escoamento, pois podem causar entupimento das tubulações, prisão e problemas de acionamento em equipamentos, podem comprometer a produtividade das operações, aumentar custos de produção e consumo de energia, além de gerar danos aos equipamentos e as estruturas, comprometendo a segurança das atividades e em casos mais extremos, causando a paralisação completa da produção. Por isso, faz-se necessário adotar medidas de controle, planejamento e monitoramento das condições termodinâmicas as quais o gás natural está sendo transportado. Neste trabalho são simuladas as condições próximas das reais enfrentadas durante o transporte do gás natural produzido na Unidade de Produção de Petróleo e Gás Natural FPSO Cidade de Vitória até a Unidade de Tratamento de Gás de Cacimbas. Para verificar as propriedades de fluxo do sistema, a temperatura e a pressão de formação dos hidratos, e dimensionar de forma otimizada o uso de métodos químicos (inibidores) e métodos térmicos (aquecedores) de prevenção será utilizado o software HYSYS. Os resultados obtidos comprovam a eficiência do inibidor termodinâmico metanol na prevenção da formação do hidrato e as vazões necessárias para realizar este controle. Além disso, indica-se a quantidade de energia necessária para que um aquecedor elétrico forneça calor suficiente à tubulação para prevenir a formação de hidratos, mostrando que este método térmico pode substituir a injeção do metanol, porém é necessário avaliar o requisito energético, que pode ser elevado. Palavras-chave: transporte de gás natural; escoamento transiente; hidrato; inibidores de hidrato