Cultural Diversity in the United States and Its Impact on Human Development

Previous studies have yielded mixed results on the impact of cultural diversity on economic performance. We find a positive relationship in the United States between cultural diversity and a comprehensive measure of human development that incorporates health, education, and income. We also disaggregate cultural diversity into three components including ethnicity, language, and religion. We find a positive relationship between human development and both religious and language diversity, and a negative relationship with ethnic diversity. These relationships are robust, using several alternative mathematical measures of diversity. Our results are consistent with diversity generating benefits from exposure to a variety of experiences, ideas, and skills while introducing costs due to difficulty in communication, difference in preferences, and conflict between polarized groups. We conclude that strong institutions are essential to maximize the benefits of diversity while mitigating the associated costs

Hybrid Stochastic Models for Remaining Lifetime Prognosis

The United States Air Force is developing its next generation aircraft and is seeking to reduce the risk of catastrophic failures, maintenance activities, and the logistics footprint while improving its sortie generation rate through a process called autonomic logistics. Vital to the successful implementation of this process is remaining lifetime prognosis of critical aircraft components. Complicating this problem is the absence of failure time information; however, sensors located on the aircraft are providing degradation measures. This research has provided a method to address at least a portion of this problem by uniting analytical lifetime distribution models with environment and/or degradation measures to obtain the remaining lifetime distribution

Ranking and Generating Alternatives for the National Air Intelligence Center\u27s (NAIC) Resource Allocation Strategy

Allocating resources is never an easy task, especially when requirements call for more resources than those available. It gets more difficult when the availability of resources shrinks from year to year. This is the case at the National Air Intelligence Center (NAIC). In each of the past five years, NAIC has been forced to make their resource allocation decision with fewer dollars and less manpower. This decision has been time consuming, manpower intensive, and sometimes very heated. In an effort to lessen these three consequences, a resource allocation model, based upon the NAIC Commander\u27s values and preferences, was developed. The methodology for the model is founded upon decision analysis with value-focused thinking. Using multi-attribute utility theory, measures were scored using scoring functions and then multiplied by the commander\u27s preferences to determine an overall utility score. For the FY99 budget cycle at NAIC, 62 unique funding proposals were scored and ranked using 28 measures for each proposal. The developed value hierarchy allows NAIC to choose their own alternatives based on this ranked list. Significant differences in perceived impact exist between recommended proposal cuts and the list of proposals approved for cuts by NAIC. Some sensitivity analysis was performed on the commander\u27s preferences

Ultrasound-induced emulsification of subcritical carbon dioxide/water with and without surfactant as a strategy for enhanced mass transport

Pulsed ultrasound was used to disperse a biphasic mixture of CO2/H2O in a 1 dm3 high-pressure reactor at 30 °C/80 bar. A view cell positioned in-line with the sonic vessel allowed observation of a turbid emulsion which lasted approximately 30 min after ceasing sonication. Within the ultrasound reactor, simultaneous CO2-continuous and H2O-continuous environments were identified. The hydrolysis of benzoyl chloride was employed to show that at similar power intensities, comparable initial rates (1.6 ± 0.3 × 10–3 s–1 at 95 W cm–2) were obtained with those reported for a 87 cm3 reactor (1.8 ± 0.2 × 10–3 s–1 at 105 W cm–2), demonstrating the conservation of the physical effects of ultrasound in high-pressure systems (emulsification induced by the action of acoustic forces near an interface). A comparison of benzoyl chloride hydrolysis rates and benzaldehyde mass transport relative to the non-sonicated, ‘silent’ cases confirmed that the application of ultrasound achieved reaction rates which were over 200 times faster, by reducing the mass transport resistance between CO2 and H2O. The versatility of the system was further demonstrated by ultrasound-induced hydrolysis in the presence of the polysorbate surfactant, Tween, which formed a more uniform CO2/H2O emulsion that significantly increased benzoyl chloride hydrolysis rates. Finally, pulse rate was employed as a means of slowing down the rate of hydrolysis, further illustrating how ultrasound can be used as a valuable tool for controlling reactions in CO2/H2O solvent mixtures

Diversity in the Heartland of America: The Impact on Human Development in Indiana

This article is the third in a series of studies measuring the impact of cultural diversity on human development. We disaggregate cultural diversity into three components: ethnicity, language, and religion. The first study examined the impact of diversity internationally. We found that countries are worse off with greater diversity, especially religious diversity; however, we found that more-prosperous countries with strong institutions benefited from increased diversity. We concluded that strong institutions are essential to maximize the benefits of diversity while mitigating the associated costs. The second study examined the impact of diversity within the United States, where institutional strength was assumed to be relatively great and similar between states. We found an overall negative impact from diversity. Ethnic diversity was negatively associated with human development, while religious and language diversity had a positive impact. We concluded that in the United States, there is more tolerance for religious and language differences compared to ethnic differences. In this third study, we examine the impact of diversity within the state of Indiana. As with our national results, we find a generally negative relationship between human development and diversity. Ethnic diversity has a negative impact, while religious and language diversity are generally positive influences. Strong political and legal institutions may not be sufficient to extract net benefits from diversity if social attitudes that guide behavior are not supportive. The results suggest that net benefits from diversity in Indiana may depend on improvement of social attitudes and in commitment to social services that support historically disadvantaged minority groups

Exploratory Insights into Cross-Cultural On-line Shopping Differences between U.S. and French Millennials and Generation Zs

Online retail sales have shown double-digit growth in the U.S. for the last decade lead by millennials and more recently generation Z. While extensive research has been done exploring U.S. online shopping behaviors of these generations, little cross-cultural work has been done. This paper explores the differences between the U.S. and French millennial and gen z online shoppers. The research focused on four questions; was there a difference in the number of times per week that individuals shopped online, the percentage of shopping funds spent online versus in store, the types of products purchased online, and the percentage of low priced products (below $25 or €25. Results showed significant differences between the online shopping and purchasing behaviors between French and U.S. online shoppers

The source and value of voting rights and related dividend promises

This paper examines the relative share pricing of 98 firms with two classes of common stock trading in the United States from 1984 to 1999. The firms feature common stock classes with differential voting rights and, in some cases, differential rights to dividends. The observed voting premiums are higher than those reported in previous studies of U.S. firms and are dependent on the form of dividend promise to the low-vote shareholder. The voting premium is higher in the presence of a control threat, when insiders do not hold controlling voting power, and during periods of poor firm performance

A Case For Teaching Business Ethics In A Cost-Benefits Framework: Are Business Students More Discriminating In Their Decision Making?

Based on a survey questionnaire of 299 university students, we find that business majors act more ethically than other majors in some cases and less ethically in others. Business students appear more likely to adopt the consequentialist framework to evaluate ethical dilemmas. Our results are consistent with business students being more discriminating based on the perceived costs and benefits of each case. We find differences in behavior based on active versus passive unethical behavior and based on the identity of the potentially harmed party. This evidence suggests that business school curricula that focus on acting ethically because it is the right thing to do may be ineffective. Our results indicate it may be important to openly discuss unethical behavior in a framework that considers the long-term consequences to all affected stakeholders. As a result, business students and future professionals may conclude that ethical behavior is supported by careful cost-benefit analysis

The Role of Insider Influence in Mutual-to-Stock Conversions

Using a sample of 347 demutualizing thrifts from 1991 to 2004, we show that the level of inside participation is not a traditional signal of firm performance. We conclude that unanticipated inside participation reflects the incentives of insiders to reduce the size of the offer to influence the level of expected IPO returns. We find unanticipated inside participation is related to lower offer size and higher initial returns, but we do not find a relationship between inside participation and post-IPO performance

Demutualization: Determinants and consequences of the mutual holding company choice

We investigate the determinants and consequences of the mutual holding company (MHC) structure that allows mutual thrifts to issue stock to outside shareholders while maintaining the mutual form. Capital constrained firms with greater profit opportunities are more likely to choose a full demutualization; demonstrating that the MHC choice can be used to control for over- and under-investment costs. During periods of greater regulatory constraints, MHC firms have lower offer-day returns than full demutualizations. MHC firms are also less likely to be acquired as the MHC structure provides protection from the market for corporate control. Demonstrating a clear preference by minority shareholders for the elimination of the MHC structure, the announcement of a second-stage conversion generates a 12 percent return