Alien Registration- Brown, Darrell W. (Fort Fairfield, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/35480/thumbnail.jp

Is China Reshaping the African Landscape?

The purpose of this research is to identify the ways in which China is reshaping the African landscape. The goal is to show how China has developed a strategy, to build close ties with countries in Africa to market their products. The focus of the research is to show how China has made a huge impact in Africa the past twenty years. Twenty years ago, China’s influence in Africa was scarce. Today, China’s strategy includes Africa and its vast resources. China’s growing industrial businesses in energy, petroleum, mineral deposits, and raw materials have them looking outside their country to fulfill their needs. Africa with its large quantity of natural resources has caught the attention of the Chinese government. The Chinese seek additional connections with the countries of Africa. China’s arrival as a global power, is seeking to transform the African continent. Several African countries have embraced the Chinese as a partner, which can help them with their infrastructure, economies, military, and foreign direct investments. African leaders have embraced China as a superpower on the continent. China is putting into place programs that will address these issues. China’s ideas are to introduce and reinforce its growing economic and political influence in Africa. Various authors on this subject have referred to China as the “Crouching tiger” and Africa as the “Hidden dragon.” Eventually, Africa will be a strong test to China and its influence abroad. The United States has mostly ignored the African continent. Would an established Chinese presence come back to haunt the United States in the future or is this also a wakeup call for the United States, to become more involved with the nations of Africa; or does China already have too much of a first-mover advantage

Burgerville: Sustainability and Sourcing in a QSR Supply Chain

Jack Graves is considering buying chicken. More precisely, Jack is considering where to buy chicken. He needs to make a recommendation to the purchasing team soon, and the decision is complicated. Jack is a long-time employee of the Burgerville restaurant chain, a quick-serve restaurant chain in the Northwest USA. Burgerville prides itself in being true to its long-held values while maintaining profitability and growth. Graves’ primary job at Burgerville is to assure that the company’s values are embedded in all its actions, including its relationships to its supply chain. His current concern is the dilemma of which values to promote. Burgerville sells chicken, lots of chicken. So the purchase of chicken has significant impacts on the social and environmental impacts of Burgerville’s supply chain. Should Burgerville buy local, with the inherent social and environmental benefits, while paying attention to concerns about labor issues, animal treatment, and non-organic stewardship? Or should it find a supplier with some assurance that these potential problems are eliminated, regardless of location? Jack knows that Burgerville needs to address this issue soon, as the supply of chicken that is produced to Burgerville’s high standards is small and there are sure to be competitors seeking the same products. He will have to weigh the company’s values and make a recommendation soon. As the Chief Cultural Officer of The Holland Inc., Burgerville’s parent company, Jack Graves is constantly aware of the need to align the Burgerville culture and identity throughout all units of the business, including vendor partners. The chain’s slogan: Fresh. Local. Sustainable. proclaims its commitment to offering foods differently than other quick serve chains, with specific attention to where food is being sourced. Burgerville aims to deliver on this promise as often as possible, and has had success in the past. Over the past decade, Burgerville has made a concerted effort to ensure its purchasing supports it values. As of 2009, over 70% of Burgerville’s total spending on food products was from local suppliers, up from less than 60% in 2008. With chicken, though, Graves was faced with some difficult questions and hard choices: can Burgerville find a local supplier who can provide a sufficient quantity and quality of breaded and plain chicken breasts and chicken strips at a cost comparable to the existing national brand supplier? Is buying local the most important decision to make for Burgerville and its image? Is the issue more than simply reducing the distance the food travels from origin to the customer? Are Burgerville customers willing to pay a premium for locally sourced chicken? It makes sense to purchase from local farmers who may then become loyal customers, but what if distant farms operate more sustainably than the local farms? Is there a sustainable chicken farm that could handle Burgerville’s demand? These questions weigh on Graves’s mind as he struggles to balance the chain’s profitability with the company’s values

Congress and Deregulation: Federal Legislative Issues Past, Present and Future.

I am Bill Robinson, and I am pinch-hitting for Mark La Fratta. Mark did something that caused him to have to go to Gary, I am not sure what it is. Perhaps, Mr. Brown will be able to tell us later on. In any event, it is a pleasure to be here. A couple of Saturdays ago, I was out sailing in an old boat I have, and we had wonderful winds. We were wasting in an area on the Rappahannock that I was not very familiar with, and we were just about to make our last tide in the fifth of six legs of the race, when we ran aground so badly, and so far, that it looked like one of those photographs after a hurricane, with the boat keeled over. Eventually, somebody came by and yelled over from his boat, It sure is a lot easier standing up at a podium in a courtroom, than what you are doing, is it not, my boy. It was a bailiff in the Federal Judge\u27s Courtroom in Richmond, and the general proposition he used was correct. And, it is with a little trepidation that I come because you all are experts at this, and the panelists are certainly experts, and I am simply going to be introducing them

Effect of Thermomechanical Processing on the Microstructure, Properties, and Work Behavior of a Ti50.5 Ni29.5 Pt20 High-Temperature Shape Memory Alloy

TiNiPt shape memory alloys are particularly promising for use as solid state actuators in environments up to 300 C, due to a reasonable balance of properties, including acceptable work output. However, one of the challenges to commercializing a viable high-temperature shape memory alloy (HTSMA) is to establish the appropriate primary and secondary processing techniques for fabrication of the material in a required product form such as rod and wire. Consequently, a Ti(50.5)Ni(29.5)Pt20 alloy was processed using several techniques including single-pass high-temperature extrusion, multiple-pass high-temperature extrusion, and cold drawing to produce bar stock, thin rod, and fine wire, respectively. The effects of heat treatment on the hardness, grain size, room temperature tensile properties, and transformation temperatures of hot- and cold-worked material were examined. Basic tensile properties as a function of temperature and the strain-temperature response of the alloy under constant load, for the determination of work output, were also investigated for various forms of the Ti(50.5)Ni(29.5)Pt20 alloy, including fine wire