Thermomechanical surface instability at the origin of surface fissure patterns on heated circular MDF samples

When a flat sample of medium density fibreboard (MDF) is exposed to radiant heat in an inert atmosphere, primary crack patterns suddenly start to appear over the entire surface before pyrolysis and any charring occurs. Contrary to common belief that crack formation is due to drying and shrinkage, it was demonstrated for square samples that this results from thermomechanical instability. In the present paper, new experimental data are presented for circular samples of the same MDF material. The sample was exposed to radiant heating at 20 or 50 kW/m2, and completely different crack patterns with independent Eigenmodes were observed at the two heat fluxes. We show that the two patterns can be reproduced with a full 3-D thermomechanical surface instability model of a hot layer adhered to an elastic colder foundation in an axisymmetric domain. Analytical and numerical solutions of a simplified 2-D formulation of the same problem provide excellent qualitative agreement between observed and calculated patterns. Previous data for square samples together with the results reported in the present paper for circular samples confirm the validity of the model for qualitative predictions, and indicate that further refinements can be made to improve its quantitative predictive capability.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figures. New title and abstract, added experimental and simulation details and figures, conclusions unchanged. Matches the version published in Fire And Material

Social Requirements for Virtual Organization Breeding Environments

The creation of Virtual Breeding Environments (VBE) is a topic which has received too little attention: in most former works, the existence of the VBE is either assumed, or is considered as the result of the voluntary, participatory gathering of a set of candidate companies. In this paper, the creation of a VBE by a third authority is considered: chambers of commerce, as organizations whose goal is to promote and facilitate business interests and activity in the community, could be good candidates for exogenous VBE creators. During VBE planning, there is a need to specify social requirements for the VBE. In this paper, SNA metrics are proposed as a way for a VBE planner to express social requirements for a VBE to be created. Additionally, a set of social requirements for VO planners, VO brokers, and VBE members are proposed.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Leading in times of crisis: evidence of digital transformational leadership among Arab female educational leaders

During the pandemic, educational leaders had to suddenly deal with unprecedented changes that teaching and learning environment has undergone. In times of crisis, leaders’ control of emotions, the quality of relationship between them and the team, and the value congruence play a significant role. In the Arab world, however, cultural, national and sociological contexts largely impact female leaders’ values, beliefs and behaviors. Hence, it is significant to explore these leaders’ behaviors and practices in times of crisis, the factors that helped them cope with the sudden changes and lead digitally, and the extent that the dimensions of the transformational leadership style had on their performance. Through eight semi-structured interviews, results revealed practices of Arab female educational digital transformational leadership that helped them maintain their own and their organization’s performance during the Covid-19 pandemic. These practices include, building relationships, motivating and recognizing team efforts, open communication, adaptability, a strong sense of emotional intelligence and self-control. While these leaders consider themselves democratic and transformational leaders, an emergent theme showed that they implemented the changes as a coercive activity. This study suggests for policy-makers to form strategies and policies that would increase teachers’ leadership skills in preparation for potential leadership positions

Recension de l'ouvrage : Conflits et pouvoirs dans les institutions du capitalisme, sous la dir. de F. Lordon

L'ouvrage collectif " conflits et pouvoirs dans les institutions du capitalisme ", réalisé sous la direction de Frédéric Lordon , présente la dynamique des rapports sociaux (le rapport de propriété, le rapport marchand-monétaire, le rapport salarial) du capitalisme en pensant les rapports de pouvoirs qui agissent sur cette dernière. Pour lui, ces rapports sociaux fondamentaux du capitalisme ne sont pas bien déterminés : " c'est l'histoire qui se charge de leur donner leur complément de détermination et de les actualiser en leur donnant telle ou telle forme particulière " (p. 11) ; il essaye ainsi, à travers cet ouvrage, de les actualiser en leur attribuant une certaine forme institutionnelle particulière..

Designing the Lebanese public education budget: A policy document analysis

Education has become a high-stakes, big-budget item worldwide and is often a major contributor to the country\u27s GDP. Each country\u27s public expenditure on education differs but there is a general recognition that education is a catalyst for country growth and development. In Lebanon, public sector education is viewed by the government as unproductive and the gap between private and public schooling is vast. The strong centralization and governance of Lebanese public schools\u27 finance, management, and curriculum hinders the development of the public education sector and influences the performance of students and teachers. Although the total expenditure on education is high (about US$1.2 billion annually: approximately 2.45% of GDP and 6.4% of total public expenditure), Lebanon\u27s public expenditure on education is lower than expenditure by its neighbors. This study used an interpretive document analysis method to analyze the design of the public budget policy used to determine the allocation of funds to the Lebanese education sector\u27s development plan for the educational section. The study determined the uniform guidelines for the education\u27s budget design by comparing the design used by Finland with that of 33 other developing countries. Analysis of results found that the Lebanese public education development plan uses six of eight best-practice guidelines. This study is potentially useful for educational policymakers and researchers interested in educational budget policies design in low performing systems. Comparative document analysis will assist policymakers in Lebanon to follow benchmarked guidelines in resource allocation to improve the quality of education

Auditor selection of negotiation strategies : the effect of motivational factors and bargaining power under a throughput model

Motivational factors and bargaining power have been recognized by scholars and practitioners alike, as important elements for negotiation strategies. However, there has been little effort to date to empirically or theoretically study the effect of these factors in the context of auditor-client negotiation while adopting a decision-making process framework. We present a Throughput Model framework that describes the decision-making process of auditors when they make decisions about negotiation strategies. The model depicts how (a) perception of motivational factors and (b) bargaining power affect the choice of negotiation strategy and identifies different pathways auditors use in their decision about negotiation strategies.In our experiment, we manipulate engagement risk perception, client pressure, corporate mechanisms strength as well as financial information. We. investigate their effects on auditor decision making about the likelihood of accepting client's management alternative and on the negotiation strategies choice. We find that only engagement risk perception influences auditor's propensity to accept aggressive accounting treatments of the client. This in turn influences the use of all the negotiation strategies. On the other hand, client pressure only has effect on compromising strategies while bargaining power influences the concessionary strategy of auditors. Moreover, two dominant decision making pathways are used by auditors, i.e. P→J→D and P→D

PANELS AND SPECIAL SESSIONS

This year a record number of panel proposals were submitted for consideration. Of the over twenty-five proposals which were reviewed, only nine were finally selected for inclusion at the conference. Each proposal underwent an extensive two stage review. First, two outside reviewers were asked to read all the proposals in detail and evaluate them on both their quality and relevance. These recommendations were then passed to the program committee who reviewed the evaluations and made the final selections. The reviewing process insured that the highest quality and most relevant panels were accepted. ICIS\u2788 will also see the inauguration of a special track which was envisioned to provide a forum for unusual sessions. This year we have included sessions on Computer Ethics Awareness and the Future of IS as an Academic Field in this track. The special track is also being used to bring distinguished speakers from the various referent disciplines of IS to ]CIS. This year we have scheduled speakers from computer science and cognitive science. The purpose of these presentations will be to help familiarize us with the theoretical and methodological paradigms of our many referent disciplines