1953-02-19 Rowan County News

Rowan County News published on February 19, 1953

A survey of training aids and teaching methods employed in the signal corps ROTC program

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

An operational approach to semantics and translation for concurrent programming languages

The problems of semantics and translation for concurrent programming languages are studied in this thesis. A structural operational approach is introduced to specify the semantics of parallelism and communication. Using this approach, semantics for the concurrent programming languages CSP (Hoare's Communicating Sequential Processes), multitasking and exception handling in Ada, Brinch-Hansen's Edison and CCS (Milner's Calculus of Communicating Systems) are defined and some of their properties are studied. An operational translation theory for concurrent programming languages is given. The concept of the correctness of a translation is formalised, the problem of composing transitions is studied and a composition theorem is proved. A set of sufficient conditions for proving the correctness of a translation is given. A syntax-directed translation from CSP to CCS is given and proved correct. Through this example the proof techniques of this approach is demonstrated. Finally, as an application of operational semantics and translation, a proposal for implementing multitasking in Ada is given via a two-step syntax-directed translation

Compatibility of a Western systemic approach for handling complex, pluralist and coercive problems in developing countries: A case study of micro satellite development in Indonesia

In this era of globalization, there has been much western investment in the eastern world, increasing the number of large projects financed by internal and foreign investments. It was thought a challenging proposition to investigate whether systemic approaches could be used in eastern developing countries that are in transition between Toffler’s first (agricultural focused) and second (industrial centered) waves of economic development

Simplified system dynamics: a methodology for corporate modelling

This thesis deals with the development and application of a methodology for constructing corporate planning models. The methodology is based on a framework of general systems concepts consisting of elements from the System Dynamics and Input-Output approaches to the modelling of complex systems. These concepts permit the use of explicit and efficient procedures for constructing corporate planning models, which support each of the conceptual, verbal, graphical and mathematical phases of the model abstraction process. Support for the model programming and computational phases is provided by a system of interactive computer programs, written in the ‘BASIC’ language, for a Digital PDP 11/70 timesharing computer. The technical details of these programs and their use, are contained in the Appendices. Discussion of the methodology is preceded by reviews of both management science and corporate planning, which focus on their respective development histories, future development directions, and their inter-relationship. These reviews provide a foundation for examining the role of computer-based models in corporate planning. In particular, the importance of modelling in resolving the conflicts and problems of corporate planning is established. Following appraisal of a selection of systems-based modelling methodologies, including System Dynamics, a simplified version of this methodology is presented. This version permits the construction of more open models in which priority is accorded to representation of the structured, mechanistic relationships of the system being modelled. Introduction of the matrix algebra concepts of Input-Output Analysis enables systems to be represented as vectorised networks, which in turn facilitate the construction of less aggregated models. A series of ten applications of the simplified System Dynamics methodology, involving the construction of both financial and non-financial models, is then presented. These applications, together with a comparative study using a typical ‘non-systems’ approach to the construction of a benchmark financial model, provide the basis for assessment of the methodology. This assessment is made in terms of its strengths and weaknesses, and of some recent technological advances in computing. As a systems approach to corporate modelling, the methodology is found to meet the needs of corporate planners more closely than any of the existing systems methodologies. The representation of systems as open vectorised networks facilitates model-building and the construction of more flexible, understandable models. These advantages increase markedly as the scale of models constructed with the methodology increases. The weaknesses of simplified System Dynamics are found to relate directly to the limitations of the current version of the computer software system which supports it. This software system must therefore be upgraded if these weaknesses are to be eliminated. This upgrading should proceed in a manner which takes maximum advantage of the data base management and graphics capabilities of modern time-sharing computers

Winona Daily News

https://openriver.winona.edu/winonadailynews/1382/thumbnail.jp

State-building without taxation: The political economy of government finance in the eighteenth-century republic of Bern.

The paradigm of early modern European state-building is predominantly derived from the experience of warring states and their attempts to increase revenue extraction. The Swiss republic of Bern offers an illuminating counter-example. Being free from major wars for over two centuries (1589-1798) offered a conductive situation that allowed the state to run consistent budget surpluses while minimising the tax burden on its citizens. The thesis explores the functions which the Bernese republic performed in the absence of warfare. I am particularly interested in the effect of redistribution of resources by the government, both directly through the fiscal constitution of the state and indirectly through institutions such as property rights, regulation and economic policy. My methodology is based on models from New Institutional Economic History (North 1990; Epstein 2000), fiscal history (Schumpeter 195; Korner 1981; Bonney 1995/1999) and historical sociology (Tilly 1992; Ertman 1997). At the core of the thesis is an empirical analysis of fiscal redistribution, based on data from contemporary accounts of the state which I have collected from the archives. The Bernese republic is analysed in the context of a surplus state model, in which the following elements are mutually dependent and reinforcing: budget surpluses, low defence expenditure, the absence of a national debt, investments and low level of taxation. Overall the canton followed a niche strategy to state building which proved to be cost-effective compared to more coercive fiscal regimes. However, this strategy ultimately depended on the external effects of sustained warfare, taxation and public debts elsewhere in Europe. A particular focus is on how the Bernese state used its structure as a surplus state to invest money on capital markets at home and abroad after 1710. I will use approaches from microeconomics and investor behaviour to analyse the canton's portfolio investments

The Political Economy of Neoliberal Resilience. Developmental Regimes in Latin America and Eastern Europe

In the last decades of the twentieth century, Latin American and Eastern European countries experienced thorough processes of economic liberalization and became the hallmark of the neoliberal development model. After severe economic crises, increased social inequality and the associated political turmoil, many countries experienced reform backlashes or built alternative development models. A handful of countries, however, retained their neoliberal development models over time. What explains the resilience of neoliberalism in these countries? I provide a twofold answer: first, specific actors formed coalitions that pursued and defended neoliberal policy alternatives over time; second, specific institutional mechanisms allowed these actors to remain powerful in order to veto changes. To arrive to this answer I conducted a small-n research, focusing on four countries with substantive market reform experiences, two representing resilience (Chile and Estonia) and two representing discontinuity (Argentina and Poland). I combined within-case methods (process tracing) and comparative methods to determine causal links between the explanatory factors (coalitions and institutions) and the outcome to explain (neoliberal resilience). To assess neoliberal resilience, I analyzed the trajectory of two policy domains: exchange rate regimes and industrial policy. The study covers the period from the introduction of market reforms (ca. 1970-1990) until the 2007-8 crisis. Theoretically, I combined insights from the literature on the political economy of policy reforms, international political economy theories of policy preferences, and institutional change theories from political science. In the first part, I analyzed the formation of coalitions supporting and opposing neoliberalism. I focused on three actors: capital, divided into four sectors (financial, public utilities, competitive and non-competitive); political parties, divided on the right-left spectrum; and labor unions. I assessed their strength using quantitative data (sectorial national accounts, electoral data, unionization and collective bargaining levels), traced their preferences for exchange rate regimes and industrial policy using interviews and newspaper articles, and compared the dynamics of coalition formation and support across cases. In the second part I analyzed the political and institutional mechanisms that allowed neoliberal actor constellations to remain powerful over time and veto changes to established policies. I used specialized literature, interviews and newspaper articles to identify and test the relevant mechanisms. The main findings of my dissertation are: 1) neoliberal development projects have been pursued and defended by coalitions between the financial and competitive economic sectors, and right-wing parties; 2) non-competitive economic sectors, labor unions and left-wing parties have opposed neoliberalism (successfully in the cases of discontinuity, unsuccessfully in the cases of resilience); 3) neoliberal coalitions used three mechanisms to maintain their power resources over time: creating business supporters through privatization, blocking opposition using restrictive electoral rules and labor market institutions, and institutionalizing central bank independence and fiscal spending rules. These mechanisms have been used in different combinations in Chile and Estonia to empower actors defending neoliberalism, weaken actors opposing neoliberalism, and prevent significant changes in exchange rate regimes and industrial policy. Conversely, these mechanisms have been either absent or worked in opposite directions in Argentina and Poland