Stakeholding Through the Permanent Fund Dividend: Fitting Practice to Theory

Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) is the United States’ most significant, if not its only attempted, experiment with universal asset policies. This chapter helps clarify where the PFD fits within the larger portfolio of economic rights and obligations guaranteed by the liberal state. Is the program a realization of “real-freedom-for-all” basic income, or might it have foreshadowed Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott’s Stakeholder Society decades before their proposal emerged? I argue that neither categorization is entirely correct or entirely mistaken. Core features of the PFD demonstrate Alaska’s implicit belief in stakeholding but currently fall short of the sweeping citizenship agenda identified by stakeholding theorists. Like true stakeholder initiatives and basic income schemes, the PFD distributes shared resources on a means-independent basis, does not require recipients to work or otherwise participate in economic affairs, and commits the government to monetary distributions rather than in-kind transfers. Nevertheless, the PFD does not - and in its current format cannot - enable Alaskans to pursue their individual life plans independently of other income sources. This chapter also moves beyond definitions and addresses the PFD’s special characteristic, what I call the “endogeneity condition,” or funding through existing natural resources rather than the public fisc. I focus on how this feature allows us to abstract away from the particulars of financing basic income or stakeholding and analyze the consumption side of the system. The chapter concludes by considering how the State of Alaska might reorient the PFD toward a more comprehensive stakeholding structure and calling for more research into the use of resource-based asset systems so that governments can more aptly choose among basic income, stakeholding, and other funding schemes

The Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend and Membership in the State’s Political Community

Despite decades of unmitigated administrative success, the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) is not immune from political and legal controversy. The symbolic and financial importance that Alaskans ascribe to their annual dividend checks has generated disputes between ordinary residents and executive agencies over eligibility. Litigation concerning three dominant status requirements—minimum residency, U.S. citizenship, and felony incarceration—reveal not only the extent to which Alaskans will pursue what they believe to be valid claims on their share of natural resource wealth, but also the limits of full political membership in the state. This Comment frames a sample of the Alaska Supreme Court’s decisions on PFD eligibility in terms of membership in Alaska’s political community. The PFD reflects the Alaska Legislature’s opinion about valid beneficiaries from oil revenues, and the state courts police eligibility at the margin. This Comment therefore argues that the Alaska Supreme Court implicitly determines, on the basis of statutory intent and administrative rule interpretations, “insiders” and “outsiders” within the state’s political community

Legal Aspects of Architecture, Engineering and the Construction Process by Justin Sweet

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att ta reda på vilken kunskap lärare har om undervisning i läsförståelse, hur lärare på lågstadiet beskriver sin undervisning men även hur läsundervisningen förändras efter att eleven knäckt läskoden och kommit igång med sin läsning. Det empiriska materialet består av insamlad data genom intervjuer med sex lågstadielärare. Studien är kvalitativ med en fenomenografisk metodansats men även inspirerad av fenomenolgin. Resultaten visar att lärarna har svårt att definiera och beskriva vad läsförståelse är. I lärarnas  yrkesspråk saknas många ord och begrepp för att tala om läsning och läsförståelse . Att döma av hur lärarna beskriver sin undervisning har de ingen tydlig struktur för arbetet med läsförståelse, även om de nämner ett antal olika arbetssätt, och det tycks inte finnas någon väl genomtänkt progression för elevens läsförståelseutveckling. Nivåanpassade läromedel och individualisering är det sätt som vanligtvis används när undervisningen ska anpassas efter elevens utveckling i läsförståelse. Studien visar också att det behövs mera fortbildning för lärarna i vad läsning och läsförståelse är. Goda kunskaper om läsprocessen och läsförståelse är en förutsättning för att nå goda resultat i läsundervisningen

EFFECT OF A MASS MERCHANDISER ON TRADITIONAL FOOD RETAILERS

Non-traditional retailers such as warehouse club stores, discount drug stores, and discount mass merchandisers are new competitors for traditional food retailers. It is expected that non-traditional retailers will account for roughly 14 percent of total grocery sales by the turn of the century. The impact of a particular discount mass merchandiser (Wal-Mart) on the sales of a conventional retail grocery outlet (David's Supermarket, Inc.) located in the rural areas surrounding the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex is analyzed. In this case study, Wal-Mart alone is responsible for about a 21 percent reduction in sales.Agribusiness,

Three dimensional inelastic finite element analysis of laminated composites

Formulations of the inelastic response of laminated composites to thermal and mechanical loading are used as the basis for development of the computer NALCOM (Nonlinear Analysis of Laminated Composites) computer program which uses a fully three dimensional isoparametric finite element with 24 nodes and 72 degrees of freedom. An incremental solution is performed with nonlinearities introduced as pseudoloads computed for initial strains. Equilibrium iteration may be performed at every step. Elastic and elastic-plastic response of boron/epoxy and graphite/epoxy graphite/epoxy and problems of curing 0/90 sub s Gr/Ep laminates with and without circular holes are analyzed. Mechanical loading of + or - 45sub s Gr/Ep laminates is modeled and symmetry conditions which exist in angle-ply laminates are discussed. Results are compared to experiments and other analytical models when possible. All models are seen to agree reasonably well with experimetnal results for off-axis tensile coupons. The laminate analyses show the three dimensional effects which are present near holes and free corners

Development and verification of global/local analysis techniques for laminated composites

A two-dimensional to three-dimensional global/local finite element approach was developed, verified, and applied to a laminated composite plate of finite width and length containing a central circular hole. The resulting stress fields for axial compression loads were examined for several symmetric stacking sequences and hole sizes. Verification was based on comparison of the displacements and the stress fields with those accepted trends from previous free edge investigations and a complete three-dimensional finite element solution of the plate. The laminates in the compression study included symmetric cross-ply, angle-ply and quasi-isotropic stacking sequences. The entire plate was selected as the global model and analyzed with two-dimensional finite elements. Displacements along a region identified as the global/local interface were applied in a kinematically consistent fashion to independent three-dimensional local models. Local areas of interest in the plate included a portion of the straight free edge near the hole, and the immediate area around the hole. Interlaminar stress results obtained from the global/local analyses compares well with previously reported trends, and some new conclusions about interlaminar stress fields in plates with different laminate orientations and hole sizes are presented for compressive loading. The effectiveness of the global/local procedure in reducing the computational effort required to solve these problems is clearly demonstrated through examination of the computer time required to formulate and solve the linear, static system of equations which result for the global and local analyses to those required for a complete three-dimensional formulation for a cross-ply laminate. Specific processors used during the analyses are described in general terms. The application of this global/local technique is not limited software system, and was developed and described in as general a manner as possible

Experimental evaluation of outer case blowing or bleeding of single stage axial flow compressor. Part I - Design of rotor and bleeding and blowing configurations

Rotor design to evaluate outer case blowing or bleeding of single stage axial flow compresso

THE VALUE OF THE GULF OF MEXICO RECREATIONAL RED SNAPPER FISHERY

This study estimates the value of recreational red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, the study shows how to decompose the estimated red snapper recreation demand function into changes: (i) due to recreationists who were not taking recreational red snapper fishing trips but were induced to take a trip in response to changes in catch rates and (ii) due to recreationists already taking trips and responding to changes in catch rates. The decomposition allows us to also decompose the estimated elasticities and consumer surplus. The results indicate that an improvement in expected fishing quality will increase consumer surplus and that most of the increase is contributed by recreationists who initially do not take recreational red snapper fishing trips, but later take a positive number of trips. This finding has important policy implications for managing the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

SHRIMP EX-VESSEL PRICES LANDED FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO

A 3SLS procedure is employed to analyze U.S. Gulf of Mexico shrimp ex-vessel prices by size class and import supplies using monthly time-series data for the period from 1981 to 1995. Results indicate that the U.S. Gulf of Mexico shrimp ex-vessel prices are inflexible. Own-price flexibilities range from –0.0663 to –0.1027. Primary substitutes for U.S. Gulf of Mexico shrimp are cross-size U.S. Gulf of Mexico shrimp and imported supplies from South America. Structural changes and seasonal variations are evident for U.S. Gulf of Mexico shrimp ex-vessel prices as well as import supplies.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,