The Politics of Inequality as Organised Spectacle: Why the Swiss Do Not Want to Tax the Rich

In 2015, Swiss voters had the opportunity to impose a tax on the super rich in a popular vote and thereby fund a redistributive policy. However, a large majority voted against its seemingly obvious self-interest and rejected the tax. We propose an explanation for this puzzling outcome, bridging the usually separate behavioralist and institutionalist perspectives on the politics of inequality. We start from the observation that political economy tends to neglect processes of preference formation. Theorising preferences as socially constructed, we show that interest groups played a major role in shaping the outcome of the vote. Business frames were multiplied through allied parties and the media and had a major impact on individual voting behaviour. In addition, we demonstrate that interest groups representing business interests derive the content of their communication from business’s structurally privileged position in the capitalist economy. Specifically, creating uncertainty about possible perverse effects of government policies on jobs and growth is a powerful tool to undermine popular support. Frames based on this structural power ultimately explain why the Swiss refrained from ‘soaking the rich.’     

Addressing the sustainable development through sustainable procurement: What factors resist the implementation of sustainable procurement in Pakistan?

Sustainable Public Procurement is an integral part of sustainable development because of ever increasing government expenditures. Most of the developing countries lack the required infrastructure which may support public sector sustainability. The aim of this study is to assess the critical factors which resist the implementation of sustainable procurement in public sector of Pakistan. We used Interpretive Structural Model to investigate and rank the interrelationships among different factors of sustainable procurement. With the help of literature and Likert scale instrument, we found twelve key barriers that resist sustainable procurement implementation. We also examined tender documents of 75 different public sector universities of Pakistan but found absence of sustainability element in the documents. External factors namely government legislation and stakeholders' pressure are found most critical barriers as compared to inter organizational factors. The study is also important to highlight the hurdles in the way of sustainable development. First, the government must introduce rules and regulations to implement the sustainable procurement. Stakeholders and donors must put pressure on organizations for adopting sustainable procurement. Sustainability education should be made mandatory part of curriculum and employees should be given regular training on sustainability. Further, public procurement policies at government and institutional levels are required to be revisited towards a circular economy.     

A hybrid information approach to predict corporate credit risk

This study proposes a hybrid information approach to predict corporate credit risk. In contrast to the previous literature that debates which credit risk model is the best, we pool information from a diverse set of structural and reduced‐form models to produce a model combination based on credit risk prediction. Compared with each single model, the pooled strategies yield consistently lower average risk prediction errors over time. We also find that while the reduced‐form models contribute more in the pooled strategies for speculative‐grade names and longer maturities, the structural models have higher weights for shorter maturities and investment grade names.     

龙滩水电站地下厂房进水口高边坡加固支护设计

龙滩水电站地下厂房进水口高边坡开挖坡高达435m，坡面面积达27万m^2，为典型的反倾向层状结构岩质高边坡。为了确保进水口坝段的稳定，必须保持边坡岩体有足够的稳定性，通过采取边坡轮廓设计，防渗、排水设计，加固支护设计及施工控制等一系列措施，确保边坡稳定。文章简要论述了边坡设计的原则、标准、高边坡轮廓设计、防渗排水系统、加固支护措施、施工控制等情况。     

模袋混凝土护坡在永定河滞洪水库工程中的应用

模袋混凝土护坡是一种新型的护面技术,具有整体性强、冲灌的混凝土强度可根据工程具体要求设计的优点.它克服了其它护面型式的诸多缺点,成为十分成熟的护面新技术.随着土工合成材料在水利工程上大面积推广应用,模袋混凝土护坡具有良好的应用前景.     

黄河龙青段主要环境工程地质问题分析思路

介绍了黄河上游龙青段主要环境工程地质问题的分析思路，以达到抛砖引玉，交流和提高电工程地质勘测水平的目的。     

Engineering Geological Problems of Levee Along Middle and Lower Reaches of Yangtze River

1　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＢｅｃａｕｓｅｏｆｔｈｅｃｏｍｐｌｉｃａｔｅｄｓｕｂｓｏｉｌｐｒｏｆｉｌｅ ,ｔｈｅｌｅｖｅｅａｌｏｎｇｍｉｄｄｌｅａｎｄｌｏｗｅｒｒｅａｃｈｅｓｏｆＹａｎｇｔｚｅ ,ａｂｏｕｔ 36 0 0ｋｍｌｏｎｇ ,ｈａｓｍａｎｙｈｉｄｄｅｎｐｅｒｉｌｓ .Ａｍｏｎｇｔｈｅｄａｎｇｅｒｏｕｓｅｖｅｎｔｓｄｕｒｉｎｇ 1998’ｓｆｌｏｏｄｓｅａｓｏｎｉｎｔｈｅｗｈｏｌｅｖａｌｌｅｙ ,12 .7%ｏｃ ｃｕｒｒｅｄａｌｏｎｇｔｈｅｔｒｕｎｋｓｔｒｅａｍｄｙｋｅｓ,ｏｆｗｈｉｃｈ 6 98ｗｅｒｅｔｈｅｍｏｓｔｄ…     

裂隙岩体边坡稳定性的渗流与应力耦合分析

用裂隙岩体渗流与应力耦合分析的四自由度全耦合法对岩质边坡进行耦合分析,通过强度折减有限元法求解岩体边坡的稳定安全系数。四自由度全耦合法建立了同时以渗流水压和位移为未知量的耦合方程组,使得渗流场与应力场的求解能够一次性完成,与两场交叉迭代分析方法相比达到了彻底的完全耦合。通过强度折减,整个系统达到不稳定状态,有限元计算将不收敛,此时的折减系数就是安全系数。算例表明由此求得的边坡稳定安全系数和滑动面都与传统方法十分接近。     

关于重力坝坝内细部构造设计的几个问题

重力坝常采用横，纵缝将坝体分为柱状体施工。为此，横缝须设置止水，纵缝则待坝体冷却后灌浆，将柱状坝块连成整体。此外坝体内部还须设置坝面排水管以消除坝内渗透压力。关于坝内这些细部构造，设计规范仅有原则性要求，一般专业书列举不多，目前有些工程往往参照已建工程的设计图采用，常由于施工详图不祥易发生施工质量问题。根据丹江口重力坝设计经验，对接缝灌浆中的键槽，止浆片，灌浆管道，出浆盒，排气槽及排气管，基岩陡坡