A Cosmopolitan response to the 'war on terror'

This article explores the relevance and the significance of cosmopolitanism as an approach to understanding the ‘war on terror’. The article details how cosmopolitanism affords a perspective through which it is possible to critique and deconstruct the ‘war on terror’ and create narratives which include the impact of harmful state practices. The facets of cosmopolitanism which make it relevant to the ‘war on terror’ include its emphasis on justice and human rights. It also accounts for interactions between the global level and the local level, which are necessary to understanding the contemporary discourses of securitization and deviancy which are prominent in the ‘war on terror’. Through discussing the value of cosmopolitanism, and its concepts of human rights, equality, humanity, ethics, responsibility and justice, the article demonstrates how although the ‘war on terror’ has been constructed to defend and uphold such values, it has eroded these very values and in doing so, it facilitates the radicalization process

Social media for student learning: enhancing the student experience and promoting deep learning

Traditional Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) was introduced as a retention-motivated initiative in the College of Science and Engineering 5 years ago. Despite a high level of interest from students, there were several practical barriers that prevented many students from attending these sessions. As an alternative, an online space for Virtual Peer Assisted Learning (VPAL) was trialled. VPAL was found to have not only all the benefits of traditional PAL but also more that had not been anticipated. In this paper we will discuss the practicalities involved and the design choices that had to be made. We will also showcase some anonymised examples of academic and social dialogue between peers and outline some of the unexpected advantages of using VPAL over traditional PAL

Sato-Crutchfield formulation for some Evolutionary Games

The Sato-Crutchfield equations are studied analytically and numerically. The Sato-Crutchfield formulation is corresponding to losing memory. Then Sato-Crutchfield formulation is applied for some different types of games including hawk-dove, prisoner's dilemma and the battle of the sexes games. The Sato-Crutchfield formulation is found not to affect the evolutionarily stable strategy of the ordinary games. But choosing a strategy becomes purely random independent on the previous experiences, initial conditions, and the rules of the game itself. Sato-Crutchfield formulation for the prisoner's dilemma game can be considered as a theoretical explanation for the existence of cooperation in a population of defectors.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for Int. J. Mod. Phys.

The Road Not Taken - What Is The “Appropriate” Path to Development When Growth is Unbalanced?

This paper develops a model that endogenizes both directed technologies and demography. Potential innovators decide which technologies to develop after considering available factors of production, and individuals decide the quality and quantity of their children after considering available technologies. This interaction allows us to evaluate potentially divergent development paths. We nd that exogenous unskilled-labor biased technological growth can induce higher fertility and lower education, inhibiting overall growth in per person income. However, if technical progress is locally endogenous, increases in the overall workforce caused by unskilled intensive technological progress can make R&D more protable; this can actually induce more income growth can the alternative, skill-intensive path.

The impact of trade in services on factor incomes : results from a global simulation Model

Indian gross domestic product per capita increased rapidly between 2001 and 2006 in a climate of increasing services trade, with the export-oriented services sector responsible for rising shares of growth in gross domestic product. Due to its contribution to aggregate economic growth, there is a great need for empirical examination of the distributional consequences of this growth, especially in light of the challenges in obtaining theoretical solutions that can be generalized. This paper fills this gap in the literature by using a global simulation model to examine how sensitive factor incomes across different industries may have been to the historical changes in India's services exports and imports, and provides insight on the distribution of the national income growth attributable to the expansion of the services industry. Rent on capital in the service sector and wages of all workers would have increased as a result of greater services trade in this period, while income from capital specific to agriculture and manufacturing would have declined. The factors involved with the urban-based services sector may thus benefit from the services trade growth, while the total factor income involved in rural agriculture may decline.Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Trade Policy,ICT Policy and Strategies,Emerging Markets

The Appropriate Technology Frontier - Lessons for the Developing World

This paper presents a model of a developing economy that endogenizes both technological biases and demographic trends. As knowledge diffuses from foreign R&D-producing regions, potential innovators decide which technologies to develop after considering available factors of production, and individuals decide the quality and quantity of their children after considering available technologies. This interaction creates multiple growth paths- some economies develop labor-intensive techniques and expand the pool of unskilled labor; others grow into societies of highly skilled individuals and expanding outputs per capita. I find that if developing countries wish to achieve good prospects for income convergence, they should promote the flow of knowledge from the most developed regions, even if this results initially in a technology-skill mismatch. Such knowledge flows are more likely to promote the twin growths in human capital and technologies characteristic of the biggest economic success stories.

An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Industrialization

Historically, industrialization has been associated with falling relative returns to skills. This fact is at odds with most theories of industrialization, which tend to imply rising skill premia as natural concomitants to economic growth. This paper develops a very simple model of historical growth to help solve this puzzle. Assuming that human capital is both a consumption good and an investment good, the model demonstrates how rising education levels, non-monotonic fertility rates, and falling skill premia can all be explained within one theory.

Human Capital and Technological Transition – Insights from the U.S.Navy

This paper explores the eects of human capital on workers during the latter 19th century by examining the specic case of the U.S. Navy. During this time, naval ocers belonged either to a regular or an engineer corps and had tasks assigned for their specialized training and experience. To test the eects of specialized skills on career performance, we compile educational data from original-source Naval Academy records for the graduating classes of 1858 to 1905. We merge these with career data extracted from ocial Navy registers for the years 1859 to 1907. This compilation comprises one of the longest and earliest longitudinal records of labor market earnings, education and experience of which we are aware. Our results suggest that wage premia for \engineer-skilled" ocers rapidly deteriorated over their careers; more traditionally skilled ocers were better compensated and promoted more frequently as their careers progressed. This compelled those with engineering skills to leave the service early, contributing to the Navy's failure to keep up with the technological frontier of the time.