Public Service Performance


Book Description

The performance of governments around the globe is constantly in the spotlight, whether as a celebration or indictment of their activities. Providing evidence on strategies to improve the performance of public agencies is therefore essential to the practice of public management. Originally published in 2006, this important contribution to the debate explores issues of measurement, research methodology, and management influences on performance. It focuses on three key questions: what approaches should be adopted to measure the performance of public agencies? What aspects of management influence the performance of public agencies? As the world globalizes, what are the key international issues in performance measurement and management? In examining these questions, the contributors debate both methodological and technical issues regarding the measurement of performance in public organizations, and provide empirical analyses of the determinants of performance. The book concludes with groundbreaking work on the international dimensions of these issues.




Turbulent Diffusion in the Environment


Book Description

The rather excessive public preoccupation of the immediate past with what has been labeled the 'environmental crisis' is now fortunately being replaced by a more sus tained and rational concern with pollution problems by public administrators, engineers, and scientists. It is to be expected that members of the engineering profes sion will in the future widely be called upon to design disposal systems for gaseous and liquid wastes which meet strict pollution control regulations and to advise on possible improvements to existing systems of this kind. The engineering decisions involved will have to be based on reasonably accurate quantitative predictions of the effects of pollutants introduced into the atmosphere, ocean, lakes and rivers. A key input for such calculations comes from the theory of turbulent diffusion, which enables the prediction of the concentrations in which pollutants may be found in the neighborhood of a release duct, such as a chimney or a sewage outfall. Indeed the role of diffusion theory in pollution prediction may be likened to the role of applied mechanics (,strength of materials') in the design of structures for adequate strength. At least a certain group of engineers will have to be proficient in applying this particular branch of science to practical problems. At present, training in the theory of turbulent diffusion is available only at the gra duate level and then only in a very few places.




Modelling Turbulence in Engineering and the Environment


Book Description

A comprehensive account of advanced RANS turbulence models including numerous applications to complex flows in engineering and the environment.




Circular Economy


Book Description

Nowadays, the restriction of resources and the environment is very severe. A circular economy is the only way to sustainable development, but how this works still needs more exploration. The series of studies carried out by the author are described in detail in this book.




Turbulence and Diffusion in the Atmosphere


Book Description

This book grew out of an introductory course that I was invited to teach on a number of occasions to senior and graduate level students at the University of Kid. I have cherished these opportunities in part because I was never required to conduct examinations or give grades. For the students, however, my good fortune presented special problems that induced my sympathy: in addition to having to contend with a foreign language, they would eventually have to confront an examiner with his own ideas about what they should have learned. Although I always left a copy of my lecture notes with this person, they were too sketchy to be of much use. The present book is an attempt to solve some of these problems. The content is intended to be as broad as possible within the limitations of an introductory one-semester course. It aims at providing an insightful view of present understanding, emphasizing the methods and the history of their development. In particular I have tried to expose the power of intuitive reasoning - the nature of tensor invariants, the usefulness of dimensional analysis, and the relevance of scales of physical quantities in the inference of relationships. I know of no other subject that has benefited more from these important tools, which seem to be widely neglected in the teaching of more fundamental disciplines.




Environmental Turbulence


Book Description

Environmental Turbulence explains how to understand environmental and geophysical turbulence, both at a theoretical level and in engineering applications. Sections cover the effects of these new features on the fundamental flow dynamics in relatively simple domains. That is, how the turbulence statistics and structure are modified by the stabilizing or destabilizing effects of buoyancy and rotation is surveyed. Scalar transport is also described in detail. Flow in more complex domains is then described, focusing on vegetated and urban canopies, wind farms, air-sea interfaces, the upper ocean and clouds. Turbulence in environmental media is strongly modulated by buoyancy forces at all scales and by rotation at the largest scales, in contrast to canonical turbulent flows. It is rarely steady, which can give rise to non-equilibrium effects, and the domains such as wind farms or cities are often quite complex, leading to more intricate dynamics than in classic wall-bounded or free shear flows.




Building the Flexible Firm


Book Description

How do firms cope with changing environments? Is flexibility really the solution? Based on an Igor Ansoff Award winning study, Building the Flexible Firm shows how flexibility has become the new strategic challenge for contemporary firms. Offering a wealth of insights and based on extensive interviews with practitioners, Henk Volberda provides a strategic framework which explains what types of flexibility are effective under different organizational conditions and environmental characteristics. He also demonstrates an integrated method for diagnosing a firm's flexibility and for guiding the transition to greater flexibility and responsiveness.




Modelling Turbulence in Engineering and the Environment


Book Description

Modelling transport and mixing by turbulence in complex flows are huge challenges for computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This highly readable book introduces readers to modelling levels that respect the physical complexity of turbulent flows. It examines the hierarchy of Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) closures in various situations ranging from fundamental flows to three-dimensional industrial and environmental applications. The general second-moment closure is simplified to linear eddy-viscosity models, demonstrating how to assess the applicability of simpler schemes and the conditions under which they give satisfactory predictions. The principal changes for the second edition reflect the impact of computing power: a new chapter devoted to unsteady RANS and another on how large-eddy simulation, LES, and RANS strategies can be effectively combined for particular applications. This book will remain the standard for those in industry and academia seeking expert guidance on the modelling options available, and for graduate students in physics, applied mathematics and engineering entering the world of turbulent flow CFD.




Turbulence in the Atmosphere


Book Description

Based on his over forty years of research and teaching, John C. Wyngaard's textbook is an excellent up-to-date introduction to turbulence in the atmosphere and in engineering flows for advanced students, and a reference work for researchers in the atmospheric sciences. Part I introduces the concepts and equations of turbulence. It includes a rigorous introduction to the principal types of numerical modeling of turbulent flows. Part II describes turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. Part III covers the foundations of the statistical representation of turbulence and includes illustrative examples of stochastic problems that can be solved analytically. The book treats atmospheric and engineering turbulence in a unified way, gives clear explanation of the fundamental concepts of modeling turbulence, and has an up-to-date treatment of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. Student exercises are included at the ends of chapters, and worked solutions are available online for use by course instructors.




Mastering Turbulence


Book Description

The essential capabilities organizations need to master turbulent change Rapid and disruptive change threatens the adaptive capacity of organizations, along with the individuals and teams leading them. Based upon over a decade of global research and consulting, Joseph E. McCann and John W. Selsky outline five capabilities highly agile and resilient systems must possess. They must be: Purposeful, Aware, Action-Oriented, Resourceful, and Networked. In addition the authors illustrate how these capabilities can be assessed across four levels—individuals, teams, organizations, and their business ecosystems. The goal is to develop these capabilities in tandem so that the individual, team, organization and ecosystem have High AR—not just greater agility or resiliency, but both high agility and high resiliency. The authors outline balanced development strategies for creating High AR that can be used to master turbulent environments for competitive advantage and sustained performance Includes cutting-edge concepts and examples that take readers from the latest advances in neuro-science and executive wellness to global supply chains and innovation strategy Contains illustrative examples and vignettes from leading organizations including Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, TECO Energy, Shell Oil, Walmart, and others Most important, McCann, and Selsky deliver a unique and practical perspective that helps organization leaders make sense of the dynamic world in which they operate.