Western Caspian University (Azerbaijani: Qərbi Kaspi Universiteti) is a private university in Baku, Azerbaijan. Founded in 1991 by Husein Baghirov, it has six schools, 25 majors, 180 faculty and approximately 1500 students. The university took its name because it is modeled after Western universities in style of instruction and values, the latter in response to some of the corrupt practices under the Soviet system. Much of the instruction is conducted in English.In the late 1990s, the school partnered with American universities, such as Indiana University, to help set up its programs in business and law. Many of its partnerships were formed through the now defunct United States Information Agency. Currently, the school has ties with Indiana University, University of Kansas, Mississippi Valley State University, University of North Alabama and Delta State University.
We present SYMPHAS 2.0, a major update of the compile-time symbolic algebra simulation framework SYMPHAS for phase-field and reaction-diffusion models. This release introduces significant expansions and enhancements that enable the definition of a phase-field model directly from the free-energy functional via compile-time evaluated functional differentiation. It also introduces directional derivatives, symbolic summation, tensor-valued expressions, and compile-time derived finite-difference stencils of user-specified order and accuracy. Furthermore, the code has been parallelized for CPUs with MPI, and GPU computing has been added using CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). For the latter, symbolic expressions are compiled into optimized CUDA kernels, allowing large-scale simulations to execute entirely on the GPU; the CUDA backend covers both the finite-difference solver and, through cuFFT, the semi-implicit spectral solver. For large systems (32,7682 in 2D and 1,0243 in 3D with double precision), speedups up to similar to 1,000 & times; were obtained on a single GPU with the CUDA backend, compared to the first version of SYMPHAS using multi-threaded CPU execution on a single system. These developments establish SYMPHAS 2.0 as a flexible and scalable framework for efficient implementation of phase-field and reaction-diffusion models on GPU-based high-performance computing platforms.
Do institutional limitations inhibit or encourage entrepreneurship in the digital age? We advance research on this theoretical tension by focusing on global platform involvement, a novel strategic option. Specifically, we analyze how entrepreneurs access globally dispersed resources and escape certain limitations in home institutions. We argue that limitations in enabling institutions induce greater global platform involvement at the national level as a form of institutional escape, whereas limitations in constraining institutions persist as barriers to entrepreneurship and therefore deter such involvement. We further examine how formal and informal institutions interact to form configurations that jointly shape global platform involvement across countries. Based on these theoretical ideas, we propose a contingency-based perspective on the theoretical tension, emphasizing the type of focal institutions and their interactions. We test our hypotheses using data from a prominent global crowdfunding platform, where funding goals capture entrepreneurs’ intended engagement with the platform; our empirical analysis largely supports our arguments. We contribute to the international business literature by integrating contrasting viewpoints in the institution-based view and by extending the concept of institutional escapism to incorporate digital and entrepreneurial perspectives.
Abstract To meet the rising global energy demand, offshore wind turbines (OWTs) are increasingly deployed in deeper marine environments where wind conditions are more favorable. This transition exposes OWTs to intensified environmental loads—such as wind, wave, and rotor-induced dynamic forces—creating unique challenges to foundation designers. To address these challenges and reduce the escalating costs associated with large-diameter monopiles (MP), this study introduces a novel hybrid foundation (HF) system. The HF integrates a shallow circular plate at the seabed with a centrally embedded monopile of reduced diameter and length, offering an alternative to conventional monopile foundations. Through a combined approach of centrifuge modeling and three-dimensional finite-element analysis, this research investigates the influence of HF pile length ( L p ) to plate diameter ( W ) and varying clay soil shear strength ( s u ) and stiffness ( E 50 ) properties on the HF lateral ultimate capacity ( H u ) under eccentric loading conditions. The centrifuge tests simulate overconsolidated clay beds under lateral and overturning loads, and results demonstrate that increasing the L p / W ratio enhances the normalized H u while higher E 50 / s u limits this improvement. Unlike conventional monopiles, the HF system shows reduced sensitivity to MP diameter. Under service load conditions, the HF reduced pile bending moments by 30%–45% and tower tip displacements by up to 200%, confirming its potential to support next-generation OWTs in cohesive soils with improved structural efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
The stochastic finite-fault (SFF) modeling approach is widely used to simulate earthquake ground motions. In its original formulation, the stress parameter, one of the key source characterizations, is assumed to be spatially uniform across the fault plane. However, empirical source-inversion and theoretical studies indicate that stress parameter varies spatially across the fault plane for a given earthquake. To address this limitation, the SFF method is extended to incorporate spatially variable stress parameter derived from earthquake slip models. In the extended framework, a more realistic representation of rupture complexity is achieved by generating spatially correlated synthetic slip models using the von Karman autocorrelation function and by converting them into spatially variable stress parameter distributions. The 2014 South Napa earthquake (moment magnitude 6.07) is selected for method development and evaluation because of the availability of dense strong-motion recordings in the near-fault region. Model performance is assessed through residual analyses between observed and simulated ground motions. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the extended SFF method is particularly responsive to slipmodel variability at short periods of response spectra in the near-fault region. The results further demonstrate that the proposed approach models the spatial dependence of simulated ground motions associated with asperity locations, leading to a more physically consistent representation of source effects in SFF simulations.
