Best Practice In Company Standardisation

Though the majority of standards are company standards, scientificstandardisation literature pays hardly any attention to them. In thispaper we describe results from a research project on companystandardisation (Oly & Slob, 1999). The researchers investigated sixchemical and petrochemical industries in the Netherlands: Akzo Nobel,Dow Chemical, DSM, Gasunie, NAM and Shell. These companies havenumerous standards for their installations. Best practice fordeveloping such standards was developed by examining the companies andusing insights from relevant literature. This paper describes thescientific approach used and some of the best practice results.benchmarking;standard;standardization;company standardization;process industry

The Voice of the Other: A Dialogico-Rhetorical Understanding of Opponent and Toulmin’s Rebuttal

Although contemporary dialectical logic recognizes an important role for the opponent in argumentation, it remains loyal to the idea that arguments are supportive. In this paper, it is argued that because of this dialectical logic does not take seriously its own dialogical perspective. Without acknowledging a substantial role for rebutting factors in argumentation, the role of the opponent remains secondary. Toulmin’s understanding of the rebuttal suggests a way to incorporate such a substantial role of the opponent

Best Practice In Company Standardisation

Though the majority of standards are company standards, scientific standardisation literature pays hardly any attention to them. In this paper we describe results from a research project on company standardisation (Oly & Slob, 1999). The researchers investigated six chemical and petrochemical industries in the Netherlands: Akzo Nobel, Dow Chemical, DSM, Gasunie, NAM and Shell. These companies have numerous standards for their installations. Best practice for developing such standards was developed by examining the companies and using insights from relevant literature. This paper describes the scientific approach used and some of the best practice results

Rapid Inventory of Earthquake Damage (RIED)

The 25 January 1999 Quindío earthquake in Colombia was a major disaster for the coffee-growing region in Colombia. Most of the damage occurred in the city of Armenia and surrounding villages. Damage due to earthquakes is strongly related to topographic and subsurface geotechnical conditions underneath structures and houses. The RIED project used aerial photographs to obtain a rapid inventory of the earthquake damage right after the seismic event. This inventory was subsequently used to identify any existing relation with subsurface- and topographic conditions. Hazard zonation maps were made on the basis of seismic response analysis of a three-dimensional model of the subsurface that has been created in the GIS. Also indicative zonation maps were created outlining potential areas where topographic amplification may occur. These seismic zonation maps delineate those areas that are most likely affected by subsurface and topographic resonance effects during a future and similar earthquake. The maps have been presented to the city planning authorities of Armenia so that reconstruction of the damaged areas can be carried out in such a way that high risk areas will be avoided or that structures and houses will be built according to the standards for high seismic risk areas

The Dynamics of Sedimentary Systems and the Whimsicality of Policy Processes

Background, Aims, and Scope. Sediment management in coastal zones is taking place in high complex environments. Present management options do not have a sophisticated way of dealing with the actual complexity of the physical and the social systems and with the unpredictability that is inherent with these systems. Therefore, a new approach in both policy making and sediment management is needed that takes this complexity into account. The aim of this article is to explore the dynamics in social and natural systems and to draw the contours of this new approach for policy processes and sediment management that fits to the dynamics of the systems. Results and Discussion. The case studies show that chance events can occur in the biophysical and in the social system. In the three cases, players or actors in the decision process are left with the choice to adapt themselves to the occurring chance events or to refrain from any adaptive behaviour. Chance events can open up new possibilities by activating (new) actors and by coupling to new issues. If the situation is too locked-in (i.e. a stalemate) and is intentional on behalf of the actors, than the chance event will have no effect. T

Spatial Knock-On Effects of Area-Based Urban Policies: Practices From Utrecht, the Netherlands

In many West European countries the welfare state is retreating and instruments of urban policy have changed. Urban policies are now often area based, which means that action is taken in a spatially defined area. One of the problems of this approach is that it leads to a so called spatial knock-on effect. This is when an area-based approach causes side effects in other areas, that are not involved in the policy. So far, most interest is in the effects for the targeted area, and less attention is being paid to the side effects for other areas. In our opinion this has to change in order to have sound evaluations of the effectiveness of area based urban policies. The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at the effects of area based urban policies in both targeted areas and non targeted areas from a quantitative and a qualitative perspective. In the quantitative approach we examine how the amount of problems in both targeted and non targeted areas has changed since area based urban policy has been implemented. In the qualitative approach information is gathered by interviewing policymakers to find out in what way they deal with spatial knock-on effects. All of this has been studied in the context of three cities in the Netherlands. In the end of the paper we aim to explain spatial knock-on effects and try to strengthen this explanation with several theoretical insights. We also draw some conclusions for further research that can be useful for policymakers