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The goal of this Diploma Thesis was the detection of the potential trends of manufactural and business activities in manufactural division AZ KLIMA, Ltd and to suggest the appropriate measures .The starting situation of this company is described in an extensive analytical part. The output is a summary of its strenghts and weakness aspects, opportunities and threats. The suggest of strategy is presented by an extended marketing mix. The emphasis is placed first of all on product sphere. There are mentioned technological and organisational impacts of commencement of production of bolting and welding ducts, spiral tubes and ending distribution elements. Afterwards there are suggested methods of economy in manufactural process, market targeting and personal impacts. At the end there are outlined the time-dependent implementation harmonogram of suggested strategy, feasibility control and evaluation of expected benefits.

This research is concerned with aspects of the long running debate about 'What is History?' It focuses on the recent postmodern sceptical challenge to traditional historiography by Keith Jenkins, Alun Munslow and Beverley Southgate and the rebuttal of that challenge by empirical historians such as Richard Evans, Arthur Marwick and Perez Zagorin. The problem with this controversy is that its grounds are narrow. The exchanges have polarised around a particular postmodern treatment of scepticism, arguing for and against whether present empirical methods are capable of providing adequate explanations of the past. What I hope to contribute to this debate is a broadening of its frame of reference to a more general question of how historians might respond to wider questions about the nature of knowledge in the face of apparent epistemological uncertainty. I am using the concept of 'aporia' to express this sense of ultimate uncertainty about the possibility of true, objective, knowledge. The study takes seriously the scepticism of both positions - empirical as well as postmodern - and it does this in two ways. First, it places contemporary empiricism into an historical context that includes the empiricism of sophists and pyrrhonists of the ancient world, of Hume in the enlightenment, of Comte and J. S. Mill in the nineteenth century and more recently the radical empiricism of American pragmatism. This part of the study concludes that empiricism has long been associated with philosophical scepticism to the extent that it can be regarded as a legitimate and traditional, if sometimes unselfconscious, response to aporia. Thus scepticism can be thought to be integral to this approach to knowledge, not corrosive of it. Attempts by contemporary empirical historians to overcome the postmodern challenge by arguing for objective certainty in history, are therefore unnecessary and inappropriate. Similarly, postmodern critiques of empirical historiography that simply direct attention to the existence of aporia, rather than discuss forms of response to it, demonstrate a weakness in their analysis of empiricism. Second, the study contextualises this controversy within a broader debate about how other groups of historians are currently responding to issues of aporia. It notes how some contemporary Marxist historians, for example Patrick Joyce, are opening a fruitful dialogue with poststructural linguistic theorists, developing interpretative concepts of a cultural kind that are thought to function more flexibly than traditional ones. Overall the research concludes that the negativity of the postmodern critique, which seems to suffuse much discussion of historical theory and methods, is not a necessary outcome of such explorations. A broader view, taking into account how empiricism has functioned in the past, and how it is evolving in branches of the discipline, shows the possibility of more positive, reflexive approaches to scepticism and to the role of interpretation in the making of historical knowledge.

This study investigates the effect of the application of Sharia law in Saudi Arabia on the finality of arbitral awards on the basis of questions of law and public policy. International arbitration laws tend to circumvent the two issues by limiting the scope of their applicability. Based on the need to retain a degree of authority over enforcement of arbitral awards and other internationally issued legal determinations, this study finds that the Saudi Arbitration Law 2012 Act has some positive features and moves closer to international law in comparison to the Old Saudi Law, specifically on the issue of finality. The study finds that although not on a par with international law, it is a step in the right direction for Saudi Law to work more flexibly in the international sphere with issues involving finality. Where in the past, issues would not have been resolved due to the refusal to enforce arbitral awards, a more facilitating scenario comes about and the scope of enforcement of finality is set to rise due to the New Saudi Law. In addition, this study finds that the Saudi 2012 Act demonstrates the willingness of the Kingdom to cooperate with international laws. Although this is a breakthrough in dealing with finality, a fundamental principle of Saudi law is that the new Saudi law Act conforms to Sharia and the Kingdom’s public policy. However, with a lack of empirical cases specifically involving the New Saudi Law, it is yet to be established that it has achieved the positive impact intended. This study supports continued efforts and ultimately recommends the decision to work towards the amendment of Saudi law to better aid the achievement of finality without undue subjection to unnecessary scrutiny based on public policy requirements and also to realign Saudi public policy with international standards while maintaining fidelity to the values and principles of Sharia law.

The thesis aims to investigate the mechanical behavior and properties of a centrally notched hybrid Magnesium/Carbon-Fiber/PEEK laminate at elevated temperature. The high performance hybrid composite laminates of 0.5mm Magnesium sheets sandwiched by Carbon-Fiber/PEEK (APC-2) guasi-isotropic and cross-ply laminates were fabricated. The Magnesium sheets were polished and cleaned by acetone, then underwent the surface treatment by CrO3-base solvent etchants, cured by the improved diaphragm curing process. The finished laminates were cut into the specimen than drilled a 4mm diameter hole in the center of specimen. At first, the ultimate strength, stiffness and stress-strain diagram were obtained due to static tension tests at elevated temperature, such as 25¢XC(RT), 75¢XC, 100¢XC, 125¢XC, and 150¢XC. Compare of them, the notched quasi-isotropic ones drop almost 50% in strength, and the notched cross-ply ones are half of unnotched ones. The two lay-up notched specimens are slightly below the unnotched ones in stiffness. The strength of the specimens are decrease as temperature rise. As the temperature rise the stiffness of quasi-isotropic ones drop, but it just change little in cross-ply ones. Then the notched specimen fatigue life and load-cycle (P-N) curves were obtained by tension-tension fatigue test. The P-N curves were adopt to prevent the stress concretion of the notched specimen. Consider the same loading, notched specimens has worse fatigue behavior, but in the same load ratio, the normalized P-N curves of the unnotched ones were below the notched ones means notched ones has better fatigue behavior. Recording the specimen image by video camera during the testing process, the cracks at the edge of hole were found. However delamination was not found. Necking was observed in quasi-isotropic specimens, but not in cross-ply. Observed by optical microscopy, the improved surface treatment will decrease the probability of delamination from 20% to less than 10% after hot press.

This study aims to uncover the relationship of the objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand with architecture. After examining the philosophical bases of Randian objectivism, and how the philosophy is related to architecture via contemporary modernism, especially the modern architectural understanding of Frank Lloyd Wright, the study concentrates on how objectivism interprets architecture. The aim here is to describe what kind of an architectural aspect inspired Rand and how Rand used architecture in order to propagate her philosophy. Objectivist interpretations of architecture simply means how objectivism&rsquo / s basic assumptions perceive and respond to architecture as revealed in Rand&rsquo / s writings. In order to understan the architectural interpretations, the focus of analysis is the objectivist literature by Rand such as fictions, movies and articles. The resultant emphasis of the analysis on the relationship between Rand&rsquo / s objectivism and architecture, is on the tension in architectural relations between the individual and the state, the individual and the society, and the individual and history, which are defined as against settled social and traditional values

This thesis focuses on the effects of globalisation on educational field of architecture, in Turkey, in recent decades. The aim of the study is to develop a method of analysis in order to read the four early established educational institutions of architecture in a critical and comparative manner*. This reading is very crucial in order to comprehend their attitudes and methods of constructing their particularities while being a part of the globalised world of education. Globalisation / rapid developments in communication technology, instantaneous mobility of knowledge and student-staff exchanges lead to a common worldwide architectural education area, where educational institutions of architecture do co-exist with awareness of other institutions operating in the field. However, the interdisciplinary character of architecture, and the regional, cultural, institutional distinctiveness of schools leads to a certain diversity of educational models in the educational field of architecture. In this context, this thesis proposes a method of analysis in order to read the four schools in a comparative and critical manner. Through the reading of the institutons with their structures and educational components, in the tension between universality and particularity, the purpose of the thesis is to find out several clues for the institutions that may be applied while constructing their particularity in the globalised world of education. The accidental, evolutionary and inentional actions of schools in the tension between universality and particularity are the findings of the research. At the end, the positive as well as the negative dimensions of the methodology are criticised with reference to the findings of the research.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of metacognition as a mediator of the relationship between smoking dependence and depression/anxiety/ negative impact of life experiences. A sample of 202 adult smokers completed the following questionnaires: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Life Experiences Survey (LES), Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30), and Fagerstr&ouml / m Test of Nicotine Dependence (FTND). The path analyses were used to test a mediation model in which depression, anxiety, or negative impact of life experiences was the predictor of metacognition, which in turn was a predictor of smoking dependence. Twelve mediation models were tested using total scores of metacognition, and its factors including positive beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about worry, lack of cognitive confidence, beliefs about need to control thoughts, and cognitive self-consciousness as mediator variables. The models included depression, anxiety, or negative impact of life experiences as independent variables / and smoking dependence as dependent variable. The results suggested that neither total metacognition score nor the individual metacognitive dimensions did mediate the relationship between smoking dependence and depression/anxiety/negative impact of life experiences. The results and limitations, as well as the implications of these findings, were discussed by referring to the relevant literature.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Phoenix Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 211-223).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Phoenix Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 211-223).