Over the last two decades, alternative and holistic concepts, such as Nature-based Solutions (NbS) were introduced and adopted by policy-makers, including to the field of flood protection, thereby causing a paradigm shift towards flood risk management. The inclusion of natural water retention measures (NWRM) such as dike relocation and floodplain restoration into the German guidelines for flood pr

Abstract: Wood is an increasingly important material in the sustainable transition of societies worldwide. The performance of wood in structures is intimately tied to the presence of moisture in the material, which directly affects important characteristics such as dimensions and mechanical properties, and indirectly its susceptibility to fungal decomposition. By chemical modification, the durabil

It is a common technique in many fields of engineering to reinforce materials with certain types of fibres in order to enhance the mechanical properties of the overall material. Specific simulation methods help to predict the behaviour of these composites in advance. In this regard, a widely established approach is the incorporation of the fibre direction vector as an additional argument of the en

The risk of fatal residential fires is known to be differentiated by sociodemographic factors. However, often prevention measures are introduced generally in a population, thereby perhaps affecting the effectiveness of these interventions. By using a 20-year high-quality register over fatal fires in Sweden and a previously validated Boolean expressions regarding the effectiveness for specific inte

Being born in a hospital versus having a traditional birth attendant at home represents the most common early life policy change worldwide. By applying a difference-in-differences approach to register-based individual-level data on the total population, this paper explores the long-term economic effects of the opening of new maternity wards as an early life quasi-experiment. It first finds that th

This paper summarizes the discourse on student ratings of teaching in higher education. It reconceptualizes student ratings within a larger process of promoting quality in teaching and student learning. As students engage in productive dialogue with teachers and administrators, metrics drawn from decontextualized surveys are admittedly a vital resource. Our paper contends, however, that student ra

In this paper, convective heat transfer of Fe3O4–carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hybrid nanofluid was studied in a horizontal small circular tube under influence of annular magnets. The pipe has an inner diameter of 3 mm and a length of 1.2 m. Heat transfer characteristics of the Fe3O4–water nanofluid were examined for many parameters, such as nanoparticle volume fraction in the range of 0.4–1.2% and Reyn

Fluvial floods can cause significant damages and are expected to increase in magnitude and frequency throughout the twenty-first century due to global warming. Alongside hazard characteristics, damage potentials depend on exposure and vulnerability, which are changing in the wake of socio-economic developments. In the context of continuously evolving damage-causing factors, assessments of future c

An orientation of a graph G is a digraph D obtained from G by replacing each edge by exactly one of the two possible arcs with the same endvertices. For each v∈V(G), the indegree of v in D, denoted by dD-(v), is the number of arcs with head v in D. An orientation D of G is proper if dD-(u)≠dD-(v), for all uv∈E(G). The proper orientation number of a graph G, denoted by χ→(G), is the minimum of the

This is a contribution to the controversy which of individual or collective intentionality is more fundamental. I call it the fundamentality-question. In a first step, I argue that it is really two questions. One is about sense and one about reference. The first is: Can one grasp or understand the concept individual intentionality and, correspondingly, individuality, on the one hand, without grasp

This book explores innovations in public management, including establishing a corporate vision, strategizing an organisation and change management. Chapters provide a valuable frame of reference for the 21st century manager of public services by assessing the renewal of existing practices such as strategic costing, performance management, digitization and procurement and innovations in management

Every organization exists for a reason – a reason that describes what that organization wants to achieve. Sharing a vision is therefore fundamental in every organization. A vision should explain why people do things together and sets the direction for their future actions. This chapter deals with the characteristics and role of visions in public organizations. For such organizations, it is vital tThis chapter focuses on the role and importance of visions in the management of public-sector organizations. The management literature generally defines this rationale as the “mission” of the organization. Mission statements that define an organization are widely believed to be antecedents to the strategic development process. The literature provides a multiplicity of definitions and characteristi

In this chapter management of public services is introduced as a topic. The tasks and general challenges for management are described. Also, the specific setting for public services is elaborated on and discussed. In this uncertain environment management needs to be flexible and responsive to new ideas and practices to fulfil its purpose. The ability to adapt quickly to unpredictable changes in ci

The academic debate in migrant entrepreneurship has mainly focused on movements from emerging economies into developed economies. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that the highest impact is generated by migrants in/from emerging economies. To extend this academic discussion in the Latin-American context, this study investigates why migrants are more entrepreneurial than natives. By adopting the hu

This study analyses the influence of environmental and individual conditions on the quality and the speed of entrepreneurial re-entries in emerging economies after a business failure. We propose a conceptual framework supported by the institutional economic theory to study the influence of environmental conditions; and human and social capital to study the influence of individuals’ skills, experie