Some Economic Effects on Unilateral and Multilateral Reductions in Military Expenditures in the Major Industrialized and Developing Countries

We use the Michigan Model of World Trade and Production to assess the sectoral effects on the U.S. economy of: (1) a 25% unilateral reduction of military expenditures in the United States and (2) a 25% multilateral reduction of military expenditures in all of the major Western industrialized and developing countries included in the Michigan Model. Our principal findings suggest that the overall effects are not substantial. Although the sectoral results differ significantly depending on the alternative assumptions concerning compensating macroeconomic policies, less than 1.0% of the workforce might experience dislocation in all cases. The results of the multilateral reduction are qualitatively similar to those of a unilateral reduction.Research Seminar in International Economics, Department of Economics, University of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100738/1/ECON204.pd

Computational Analysis of the Sectoral Effects on U.S. Trade and Employment of Unilateral and Multilateral Reductions in Military Expenditures

The purpose of our paper is to investigate the possible sectoral impacts on trade and employment in the United States that might be experienced as a result of across-the-board reduction in military spending. We do not address the effects of a restructuring of military expenditures.Research Seminar in International Economics, Department of Economics, University of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100737/1/ECON203.pd

Sectoral effects of reductions in NATO military expenditures in the major industrialized and developing countries

We use the Michigan Model of World Production and Trade to assess the sectoral effects of (1) a 25 percent unilateral reduction of military expenditures in the individual NATO countries and (2) a 25 percent multilateral reduction of military expenditures in all of the NATO countries combined. Our principal findings suggest that the overall effects of the unilateral and multilateral reductions are not substantial and that the results of the two reductions are qualitatively similar. The sectoral results, which are also broadly similar in the two experiments, suggest that sectors such as basic metals and metal products, durable goods, and community, social, and personal services might be in need of transitional adjustment assistance for displaced workers in the event that the reductions in military expenditures would in fact be carried out.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47467/1/11079_2005_Article_BF01000044.pd

The energy budget in Rayleigh-Benard convection

It is shown using three series of Rayleigh number simulations of varying aspect ratio AR and Prandtl number Pr that the normalized dissipation at the wall, while significantly greater than 1, approaches a constant dependent upon AR and Pr. It is also found that the peak velocity, not the mean square velocity, obeys the experimental scaling of Ra^{0.5}. The scaling of the mean square velocity is closer to Ra^{0.46}, which is shown to be consistent with experimental measurements and the numerical results for the scaling of Nu and the temperature if there are strong correlations between the velocity and temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, new version 13 Mar, 200

Analysis of the shearing instability in nonlinear convection and magnetoconvection

Numerical experiments on two-dimensional convection with or without a vertical magnetic field reveal a bewildering variety of periodic and aperiodic oscillations. Steady rolls can develop a shearing instability, in which rolls turning over in one direction grow at the expense of rolls turning over in the other, resulting in a net shear across the layer. As the temperature difference across the fluid is increased, two-dimensional pulsating waves occur, in which the direction of shear alternates. We analyse the nonlinear dynamics of this behaviour by first constructing appropriate low-order sets of ordinary differential equations, which show the same behaviour, and then analysing the global bifurcations that lead to these oscillations by constructing one-dimensional return maps. We compare the behaviour of the partial differential equations, the models and the maps in systematic two-parameter studies of both the magnetic and the non-magnetic cases, emphasising how the symmetries of periodic solutions change as a result of global bifurcations. Much of the interesting behaviour is associated with a discontinuous change in the leading direction of a fixed point at a global bifurcation; this change occurs when the magnetic field is introduced

Pollutant dispersion in a developing valley cold-air pool

Pollutants are trapped and accumulate within cold-air pools, thereby affecting air quality. A numerical model is used to quantify the role of cold-air-pooling processes in the dispersion of air pollution in a developing cold-air pool within an alpine valley under decoupled stable conditions. Results indicate that the negatively buoyant downslope flows transport and mix pollutants into the valley to depths that depend on the temperature deficit of the flow and the ambient temperature structure inside the valley. Along the slopes, pollutants are generally entrained above the cold-air pool and detrained within the cold-air pool, largely above the ground-based inversion layer. The ability of the cold-air pool to dilute pollutants is quantified. The analysis shows that the downslope flows fill the valley with air from above, which is then largely trapped within the cold-air pool, and that dilution depends on where the pollutants are emitted with respect to the positions of the top of the ground-based inversion layer and cold-air pool, and on the slope wind speeds. Over the lower part of the slopes, the cold-air-pool-averaged concentrations are proportional to the slope wind speeds where the pollutants are emitted, and diminish as the cold-air pool deepens. Pollutants emitted within the ground-based inversion layer are largely trapped there. Pollutants emitted farther up the slopes detrain within the cold-air pool above the ground-based inversion layer, although some fraction, increasing with distance from the top of the slopes, penetrates into the ground-based inversion layer.Peer reviewe

Framing interculturality: a corpus-based analysis of on-line promotional discourse of higher education intercultural communication courses

This paper examines how intercultural communication (ICC) and the notion of culture are framed in on-line promotional discourse of higher education intercultural communication courses. It analyses a specialised corpus comprised of 14,842 words from 43 course websites of master’s programmes in intercultural communication in the UK and the US—internationally, the two largest providers of such programmes. Through combining corpus tools with a ‘situated meaning’ approach, the analysis reveals that while a small number of courses acknowledge cultural ‘complexity’, culture is still very often reduced to an essentialised and static notion, despite growing criticism against such an approach in ICC literature. Intercultural communication is valorised as a combination of desirable skills and knowledge conducive to effective communication of different cultural groups and for those working in international arenas. Significant differences between the UK and US courses are identified with regard to the extent of associations with diversity-related social categories. The lack of interpretive, critical and constructivist positions on culture in promotional discourse is discussed in the context of neoliberal discourse and the current thinking towards professional competences dominant in Britain, North America, and other parts of the world

'Why Should I Study English If I'm Never Going To Leave This Town?' Developing Alternative Orientations To Culture in the EFL Classroom Through CAR

This article describes the progress and findings of a collaborative action research project on the cultural dimension in primary levels of EFL education in Valencia (Spain). Its aim was to explore whether the EFL subject tended to ignore the students¿ native cultural background, and if so, whether this omission brought negative pedagogical consequences. It involved ten student-teachers who were carrying out their practicum placements at schools in the region, ten EFL school teachers, and a university researcher. Collective meetings were held to critically analyze the school experiences, and design experimental interventions to give a different orientation to culture in the EFL class. By the end of the CAR, the STs had become better teachers and researchers: they were more aware of the need for the learners¿ cultural background to become integrated into the communicative aims of the EFL subject, and more prepared to improve their theoretical and practical understanding of this dimension through research on their own teaching

Stereodivergent Synthesis of Enantioenriched 4-Hydroxy-2- cyclopentenones

Protected 4-hydroxycyclopentenones (4-HCPs) constitute an important class of intermediates in chemical synthesis. A route to this class of compound has been developed. Key steps include Noyori reduction (which establishes the stereochemistry of the product), ring-closing metathesis, and simple functional group conversions to provide a set of substituted 4-HCPs in either enantiomeric form