Analysis of Competition in the Defense Industrial Base: An F/A-22 Case Study

Consolidation of the defense industrial base has led to concerns about whether enough competition exists between remaining firms to maintain needed cost reduction and innovation. We examine competition in the U.S. defense industrial base by performing an in-depth case study of Lockheed Martin and the F-22 program that considers multiple tiers of the industrial base. We find that defense firm specialization has led to outsourcing practices and arguably a more robust U.S. defense industrial base. Implications for government policy are identified

Why a Wealth Tax is Definitely Constitutional

Wealth tax reform proposals are playing a major role in the 2020 presidential campaign. However, some opponents of these wealth tax reform proposals have claimed that a wealth tax would be unconstitutional. Other prominent critics have argued that wealth tax reforms are probably unconstitutional, so that, after review by the courts, the “likeliest outcome is that a wealth tax will raise exactly zero dollars.” These claims are wrong. More precisely, these claims are wrong conditioned on wealth tax legislation being carefully drafted so as to ensure its constitutionality. As we will explain in this essay, properly drafted, wealth tax reform legislation is definitely constitutional and thus capable of raising substantial revenues to fund new spending programs. Constitutional scholars disagree about whether a new federal wealth tax would need to be uniform or apportioned in order to be constitutional. We explain how wealth tax legislation could be drafted to ensure its constitutionality regardless of how the Supreme Court ultimately decides on this question. In particular, we explain how Congress could design an apportioned federal wealth tax made equitable through the use of a fiscal equalization program, and could legislate this as a fallback option in case the Supreme Court were to rule against an unapportioned federal wealth tax

Scanned-cantilever atomic force microscope

We have developed a 3.6 µm scan range atomic force microscope that scans the cantilever instead of the sample, while the optical-lever detection apparatus remains stationary. The design permits simpler, more adaptable sample mounting, and generally improves ease of use. Software workarounds alleviate the minor effects of spurious signal variations that arise as a result of scanning the cantilever. The performance of the microscope matches that of scanned-sample instruments

Structure, diffusion and rheology of Brownian suspensions by Stokesian Dynamics simulation

The non-equilibrium behaviour of concentrated colloidal dispersions is studied using Stokesian Dynamics, a molecular-dynamics-like simulation technique for analysing suspensions of particles immersed in a Newtonian fluid. The simulations are of a monodisperse suspension of Brownian hard spheres in simple shear flow as a function of the Péclet number, Pe, which measures the relative importance of hydrodynamic and Brownian forces, over a range of volume fraction 0.316 [less-than-or-eq, slant] [phi] [less-than-or-eq, slant] 0.49. For Pe < 10, Brownian motion dominates the behaviour, the suspension remains well-dispersed, and the viscosity shear thins. The first normal stress difference is positive and the second negative. At higher Pe, hydrodynamics dominate resulting in an increase in the long-time self-diffusivity and the viscosity. The first normal stress difference changes sign when hydrodynamics dominate. Simulation results are shown to agree well with both theory and experiment

A Measure of Emotional Empathy for Adolescents and Adults

A new, multi-dimensional scale of emotional empathy is described. The scale consists of 30 items and was administered to 793 adolescents and adults. A principal components analysis yielded six meaningful factors. Alpha reliabilities for all scale scores were moderate to high, and the scales demonstrate significant relationships to a number of behavioral criteria. The new empathy scale measures emotional aspects of empathy and can be used by researchers interested in a general measure of emotional empathy as well as providing detailed sub-scales

The Multidimensional Emotional Empathy Scale (MDEES)

The Multidimesional Emotional Empathy Scale (Caruso & Mayer, 1998) is a scale of self-reported empathy