3,055 research outputs found
Rogue Aid? The Determinants of China's Aid Allocation
Foreign aid from China is often characterized as ‘rogue aid’ that is not guided by recipient need but by China’s national interests alone. However, no econometric study so far confronts this claim with data. We make use of various datasets, covering the 1956-2006 period, to empirically test to which extent political and commercial interests shape China’s aid allocation decisions. We estimate the determinants of China’s allocation of project aid, food aid, medical teams and total aid money to developing countries, comparing its allocation decisions with traditional and other so-called emerging donors. We find that political considerations are an important determinant of China’s allocation of aid. However, in comparison to other donors, China does not pay substantially more attention to politics. In contrast to widespread perceptions, we find no evidence that China’s aid allocation is dominated by natural resource endowments. Moreover, China’s allocation of aid seems to be widely independent of democracy and governance in recipient countries. Overall, denominating aid from China as ‘rogue aid’ seems unjustified.aid allocation, China’s foreign aid, new donors, donor motives
Spectra of 4D, N=1 Type I String Vacua on Non-Toroidal CY Threefolds
We compute the massless spectra of some four dimensional, N=1 supersymmetric
compactifications of the type I string. The backgrounds are non-toroidal
Calabi-Yau manifolds described at special points in moduli space by Gepner
models. Surprisingly, the abstract conformal field theory computation reveals
Chan-Paton gauge groups as big as SO(12) x SO(20) or SO(8)^4 x SO(4)^3.Comment: minor corrections, some comments incorporated, some references adde
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Promoting learner autonomy through multiliteracy skills development in cross-institutional exchanges
This contribution presents findings from two empirical case studies, which followed a task-based telecollaborative learning format. Participants included student teacher trainees, tutors, and language learners from colleges/universities in Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The projects aimed at promoting learner autonomy through awareness raising of modes and meaning-making online and multiliteracy skills development based on hands-on analysis of web resources and social networking tools.
It was hoped that this awareness would foster the teachers' own autonomy in virtual learning environments and enable them to design tasks which—in turn—would promote learner autonomy as understood by Palfreyman (2006): the informed use of a range of interacting resources in context. We argue that this awareness is reflected in enhanced multimodal communicative competence, i.e., “the ability to understand the combined potential of various modes for making meaning” (Royce, 2002, p. 92), and multiliteracy, with the latter allowing teachers and learners to realize the potential of blended and online only settings for language acquisition purposes. Ideally then, while becoming gradually more versed in multimodality and multiliteracy, learners can also take over more control and self-direct their own learning when working online (Benson, 2001) which are also characteristics of autonomy
Festschrift für Hans Hisch zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet von seinen Freunden, Kollegen und Schülern. Wien: Selbstverl. des Instituts für Orientalistik 1996
Mario Liverani (Hrsg.), Neo-Assyrian Geography. Quaderni di Geografia Storica, 5. Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Dipartimento di Scienze storiche, archeologiche e antropologiche dell'Antichità, Rom 1995
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