The emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship: A study of financial technology-driven inclusive growth

Digital entrepreneurship possesses immense societal implications beyond its commercial significance. Yet our knowledge of the emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship remains limited because few studies have gone beyond the conventional emphasis on profits and wealth creation. Drawing on the emancipatory perspective that views entrepreneurship as change creation through the removal of constraints, this article examines how emancipation can occur through the actions of digital entrepreneurs. Using an empirical investigation of entrepreneurial endeavours set against disadvantaged communities in Indonesia, we uncover constraints facing a developing economy and the role of digital technologies in ameliorating them. Through extensive fieldwork and in-depth case study analyses, we identify constraining societal norms and restrictive practices, as well as the three forms of digital enablement - to emulate services, aggregate capital and equalise opportunities – necessary for the enactment of digitally enabled emancipation. We present a framework to illustrate the enactment of emancipatory digital entrepreneurship for the inclusive development of businesses and communities.     

Case history on failure of a 67 M tall reinforced soil slope

Construction of this 67 m high RSS was completed in December 2006. After seven years in-service, a tension crack was observed at the top of the slope. In March 2015 this RSS structure catastrophically collapsed. This RSS structure collapsed in a compound failure mode; as the failure plane passed beneath, partially behind, and partially through the reinforced soil mass. The failure plane beneath the RSS was along a shale-claystone interface. The failure surface partially behind the RSS was along sandstone bedrock with water-seeping bedding planes dipping out of the rock mass. The failure surface through the upper portion of the RSS is where the geogrid reinforcement was overwhelmed by stresses originating from underlying deformation. The RSS collapse occurred after 8.3 years in-service as the shear strength along the shale-claystone interface decreased and approached the fully softened strength. The primary causative factors of this failure are: (i) an insufficient subsurface investigation program and interpretation of data for design and detailing; (ii) insufficient specifications and construction plan details for both foundation preparation and rock backcut benching; (iii) insufficient foundation preparation and rock backcut benching during construction; and (iv) adaptations to the design made during construction.     

基于心理图式的知识挖掘与创新设计——以国庆彩车设计为例

为了提高设计创新效率,本研究基于心理图式提出了国庆彩车的设计程序与方法。研究按照浅层、中层和深层的次序递进,设计心理图式划分为“造型图式”“叙事与动作图式”以及“人物和情感图式”的基本类别,并提出了综合性、时态性、差异性和集体性四类基本属性。而后结合新中国成立70周年彩车设计,对不同心理图式的应用方法和属性进行了案例分析。本文所提出的方法在设计实践中得到了实证,具有一定的实用价值。     

黔北桑木场背斜铅锌矿深部找矿实例分析*#br#

黔北桑木场背斜位于上扬子地块黔北隆起区毕节弧形褶皱带与赤水克拉通盆地的交汇部位，属于有利的铅锌成矿区带。区内铅锌矿的赋矿层位主要有震旦系灯影组、寒武系清虚洞组、高台组及石冷水组，矿体多产于背斜核部并受断层或裂隙控制。通过对地层岩性特征、地表矿化特征、控容矿构造特征、化探异常特征、物探异常特征等进行综合研究，选择在成矿有利地段进行了工程验证，为进一步开展桑木场背斜铅锌矿深部找矿工作提供了思路。     

An industrial case study on variability handling in large enterprise software systems

ContextEnterprise software systems (e.g., enterprise resource planning software) are often deployed in different contexts (e.g., different organizations or different business units or branches of one organization). However, even though organizations, business units or branches have the same or similar business goals, they may differ in how they achieve these goals. Thus, many enterprise software systems are subject to variability and adapted depending on the context in which they are used.ObjectiveOur goal is to provide a snapshot of variability in large scale enterprise software systems. We aim at understanding the types of variability that occur in large industrial enterprise software systems. Furthermore, we aim at identifying how variability is handled in such systems.MethodWe performed an exploratory case study in two large software organizations, involving two large enterprise software systems. Data were collected through interviews and document analysis. Data were analyzed following a grounded theory approach.ResultsWe identified seven types of variability (e.g., functionality, infrastructure) and eight mechanisms to handle variability (e.g., add-ons, code switches).ConclusionsWe provide generic types for classifying variability in enterprise software systems, and reusable mechanisms for handling such variability. Some variability types and handling mechanisms for enterprise software systems found in the real world extend existing concepts and theories. Others confirm findings from previous research literature on variability in software in general and are therefore not specific to enterprise software systems. Our findings also offer a theoretical foundation for describing variability handling in practice. Future work needs to provide more evaluations of the theoretical foundations, and refine variability handling mechanisms into more detailed practices.     

Enhancing river model set-up for 2-D dynamic flood modelling

Flood hazard mapping is a topic of increasing interest involving several aspects in which a series of progress steps have occurred in recent years. Among these, a valuable advance has been performed in solving 2-D shallow water equations in complex topographies and in the use of high resolution topographic data. However, reliable predictions of flood-prone areas are not simply related to these two important aspects. A key element is the accurate set up of the river model. This is primarily related to the representation of the topography but also requires particular attention to the insertion of man-made structures and hydrological data within the computational domain. There is the need to use procedures able to 1) obtain a reliable computational domain, characterized by a total number of elements feasible for a common computing machine, starting from the huge amount of data provided by a LIDAR survey, 2) deal with river reach that receives significant lateral inflows, 3) insert bridges, buildings, weirs and all the structures that can interact with the flow dynamics. All these issues have large effects on the modelled water levels and flow velocities but there are very few papers in the literature on these topics in the framework of the 2-D modelling. So, in this work, attention is focused on the techniques to deal with the above-mentioned issues, showing their importance in flood mapping using two actual case studies in Southern Italy. In particular, the simulations showed in this paper highlight the presence of backwater effects, sudden and numerous changes in the flow regime, induced by the detailed river model, that underline the importance of using 2-D fully dynamic unsteady flow equations for flood mapping.     

Design response to rising sea levels in the Maldives: A study into aquatic architecture

Climate change and rising sea levels present immediate threats to humanity. However, the global catastrophe fails to generate sufficient action. Subject to total submergence within 80 years, this study undertakes an iterative design process seeking sustainable adaptation strategies for the coastal island nation of the Maldives, specifically, Malé, its capital, which exists under a “state of alert” by order of government. Research methods include literature reviews, site analysis, mapping, and iterative design processes to develop an implementation framework strategy. Infrastructure concepts are presented as speculative images with context-specific spatial relationships and functions. Concepts do not intend to represent a conclusive prototype, rather, an ideation—a solution-based discourse among key audiences highlighting the need to act decisively and adaptively.     

Targeted editing of intronic-splicing silencer enhancement of SMN2 Exon 7 inclusion by CRISPR/Case 9

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive hereditary neuromuscular disease. Exon 7 and 8 of survival of motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene or only exon 7 homology deletion leads to the failure to produce a full-length SMN gene. The copy number of SMN2 gene with high homology of SMN1 affects the degree of disease and was the target gene for targeting therapy, in which splicing silencer in intron 7 was the key to suppress the inclusion of exon 7. In this study, we projected to use CRISPR/Case 9 for the targeted editing of intronic-splicing silencer (ISS) sequence to promote the inclusion of SMN2 exon 7 and increase the production of SMN2 full-length (FL) gene expression. It happens that there was a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) at one end of the ISS sequence according to the design of sgRNA. The recombinant vector of sgRNA HSMN2 CRISPR/Case 9 was constructed and transfected into HEK293 cells. Sequencing results showed that the ISS sequence could be edited accurately and targeting in the predicted direction, in which deleting small fragments, inserting small amounts and mutation. Quantitative analysis of RT-PCR products by restriction enzyme of DdeI digestion showed that the FL of SMN2 increased by 8% (P < 0.05). In the primary cultured chondrocytes of SMA mice, in which sgRNA HSMN2 CRISPR/Case9 recombinant vector transfection could increase the SMN2 FL gene by 23% (P < 0.05) and significantly improve SMN protein levels (P < 0.05). CRISPR/Case 9 is an effective tool for gene editing and therapy of hereditary diseases, but it is rarely reported in the treatment of SMA diseases. This study shows that CRISPR/Case 9 was first used for the precision target of ISS sequence editing, which can effectively promote the production of SMN2 FL gene expressions, in which there was an important clinical reference value.     

Cross-fertilization for routine reconfiguration in IT-enabled organizational transformation

Routine reconfiguration is a key challenge for IT-enabled organizational transformation projects. However, how to successfully reconfigure existing routines remains unclear. This case study explores how to achieve routine reconfiguration in IT-enabled organizational transformation and suggests that routine reconfiguration can be achieved through the cross-fertilization of business domain knowledge. We identified a process model of cross-fertilization of business domain knowledge, which essentially incorporates three key processes (i.e., knowledge combination, reflection, and experimentation) and indicates that cross-fertilization can bring changes to all three types of trajectory components. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are also discussed.     

“自动控制系统工程设计”课程思政教学实践

学习不仅仅是自然科学知识的学习，更是社会科学、民族文化、正确人生观和价值观的形成过程，“课程思政”无疑正是实现该目标的捷径，它是当前高等院校思想政治教育的新模式。如何提升学生解决“复杂工程问题”的能力成为高校开展工程教育和“新工科”的难点和重点，而课程思政正是培养学生解决“复杂工程问题”中所需要的非技术因素的重要途径。“自动控制系统工程设计”是自动化专业高年级学生的一门专业课，当前关于“课程思政”的论述是指导思想居多、实施经验以及案例设计较少，针对该问题以“自动控制系统工程设计”为例，详细给出了“课程思政”教学案例的具体实施过程，对同类课程提供参考。