Advanced stress analysis methods applicable to turbine engine structures

The following tasks on the study of advanced stress analysis methods applicable to turbine engine structures are described: (1) constructions of special elements which contain traction-free circular boundaries; (2) formulation of new version of mixed variational principles and new version of hybrid stress elements; (3) establishment of methods for suppression of kinematic deformation modes; (4) construction of semiLoof plate and shell elements by assumed stress hybrid method; and (5) elastic-plastic analysis by viscoplasticity theory using the mechanical subelement model

American Multinationals and American Economic Interests: New Dimensions to an Old Debate

The 2008 election rekindled debate about whether US multinationals shift technology across borders and relocate production in ways that might harm workers and communities at home. President Obama now pledges to end tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas. The preoccupation about the behavior of American multinationals takes three forms: (1) that US-based multinational corporations may follow a strategy that leads them to abandon the home economy, leaving the workers and communities to cope on their own with few appealing alternatives after the multinationals have left; (2) worse, that US-based multinational corporations may not just abandon home sites but drain off capital, substitute production abroad for exports, and "hollow out" the domestic economy in a zero-sum process that damages those left behind; and (3) worst, that US-based multinational corporations may deploy a rent-gathering apparatus that switches from sharing supranormal profits and externalities with US workers and communities to extracting rents from the United States. Each contains a hypothetical outcome that can be compared with contemporary evidence from the United States and other home countries. This working paper shows that multinational corporations do not locate their operations in a zero-sum manner that favors host economies at the expense of the home economy. The two-way flow of inward and outward investment does not create an outcome that can be reasonably characterized in any way as "hollowing out" the home economy. The evidence consistently shows that the expansion of MNC operations abroad and the strengthening of MNC operations in the home country are complementary, and the answer to the counterfactual--would the home country be better off, or would workers in the home country be better off, if home-country MNCs were prevented from engaging in outward investment?--is indisputably negative. Making it more difficult to engage in outward investment would not strengthen the home economy in the United States. Quite the contrary, placing obstacles in the way of US multinationals using the United States as the center for conducting their global operations would leave them, their suppliers, their workers, and the communities where they are located worse off and less competitive in the world economy.International investment, foreign direct investment, multinational corporations, exports

Foreign Manufacturing Multinationals and the Transformation of the Chinese Economy: New Measurements, New Perspectives

What is the relationship between foreign manufacturing multinational corporations (MNCs) and the expansion of indigenous technological and managerial technological capabilities among Chinese firms? China has been remarkably successful in designing industrial policies, joint venture requirements, and technology transfer pressures to use FDI to create indigenous national champions in a handful of prominent sectors: high speed rail transport, information technology, auto assembly, and an emerging civil aviation sector. But what is striking in the aggregate data is how relatively thin the layer of horizontal and vertical spillovers from foreign manufacturing multinationals to indigenous Chinese firms has proven to be. Despite the large size of manufacturing FDI inflows, the impact of multinational corporate investment in China has been largely confined to building plants that incorporate capital, technology, and managerial expertise controlled by the foreigner. As the skill-intensity of exports increases, the percentage of the value of the final product that derives from imported components rises sharply. China has remained a low value-added assembler of more sophisticated inputs imported from abroad--a “workbench” economy. Where do the gains from FDI in China end up? While manufacturing MNCs may build plants in China, the largest impact from deployment of worldwide earnings is to bolster production, employment, R&D, and local purchases in their home markets. For the United States the most recent data show that US-headquartered MNCs have 70 percent of their operations, make 89 percent of their purchases, spend 87 percent of their R&D dollars, and locate more than half of their workforce within the US economy--this is where most of the earnings from FDI in China are delivered.Foreign Direct Investment, International Investment, China, Multinational Corporations, Exports

Three Threats: An Analytical Framework for the CFIUS Process

Under what conditions might a foreign acquisition of a US company constitute a genuine national security threat to the United States? What kinds of risks and threats should analysts and strategists on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), as well as their congressional overseers, be prepared to identify and deal with? This study looks at three types of foreign acquisitions of US companies that may pose a legitimate national security threat. The first is a proposed acquisition that would make the United States dependent on a foreign-controlled supplier of goods or services that are crucial to the functioning of the US economy and that this supplier might delay, deny, or place conditions on the provision of those goods or services. The second is a proposed acquisition that would allow the transfer to a foreign-controlled entity of technology or other expertise that might be deployed in a manner harmful to US national interests. The third potential threat is a proposed acquisition that would provide the capability to infiltrate, conduct surveillance on, or sabotage the provision of goods or services that are crucial to the functioning of the US economy. This study analyzes these threats in detail and considers what criteria are needed for a proposed foreign acquisition to be considered threatening. Ultimately, the vast majority of foreign acquisitions pose no credible threat to national security on these grounds.

Improving Communications: Awareness and Management of Perceiving Disagreement

Interpersonal communications often fail to communicate the intended message. Language, contextual, and cultural differences between the sender and receiver of the message influence the receipt of the intended message exacerbates a lack of understanding when the message contains inexact words and phrases. The resultant message obtained by the receiver may or may not be in agreement with what the intended message was supposed to convey. This creates a phenomenon named Perceiving Disagreement. When Perceiving Disagreement occurs, actions taken because of the message can conflict with the intended actions expected by the message sender and result in inappropriate performance and behaviors. This paper discusses the phenomenon of Perceiving Disagreement and encourages organizations and individuals to support the use of awareness training and practice of using more exact language and exchanging feedback between the receiver and sender of a message to improve the understanding and effectiveness of all communications. This is particularly important when using intervening media and translators for international communications.Communications; Perception; Disagreement; Conflict; Awareness; Outcomes; Understanding.

Effects of channel cross-sectional geometry on long wave generation and propagation

Joint theoretical and experimental studies are carried out to investigate the effects of channel cross-sectional geometry on long wave generation and propagation in uniform shallow water channels. The existing channel Boussinesq and channel KdV equations are extended in the present study to include the effects of channel sidewall slope at the waterline in the first-order section-mean equations. Our theoretical results show that both the channel cross-sectional geometry below the unperturbed water surface (characterized by a shape factor kappa) and the channel sidewall slope at the waterline (represented by a slope factor gamma) affect the wavelength (lambda) and time period (Ts) of waves generated under resonant external forcing. A quantitative relationship between lambda, Ts, kappa, and gamma is given by our theory which predicts that, under the condition of equal mean water depth and equal mean wave amplitude, lambda and Ts increase with increasing kappa and gamma. To verify the theoretical results, experiments are conducted in two channels of different geometries, namely a rectangular channel with kappa[equivalent]1, gamma=0 and a trapezoidal channel with kappa=1.27, gamma=0.16, to measure the wavelength of free traveling solitary waves and the time period of wave generation by a towed vertical hydrofoil moving with critical speed. The experimental results are found to be in broad agreement with the theoretical predictions

Evolution of long water waves in variable channels

This paper applies two theoretical wave models, namely the generalized channel Boussinesq (gcB) and the channel Korteweg–de Vries (cKdV) models (Teng & Wu 1992) to investigate the evolution, transmission and reflection of long water waves propagating in a convergent–divergent channel of arbitrary cross-section. A new simplified version of the gcB model is introduced based on neglecting the higher-order derivatives of channel variations. This simplification preserves the mass conservation property of the original gcB model, yet greatly facilitates applications and clarifies the effect of channel cross-section. A critical comparative study between the gcB and cKdV models is then pursued for predicting the evolution of long waves in variable channels. Regarding the integral properties, the gcB model is shown to conserve mass exactly whereas the cKdV model, being limited to unidirectional waves only, violates the mass conservation law by a significant margin and bears no waves which are reflected due to changes in channel cross-sectional area. Although theoretically both models imply adiabatic invariance for the wave energy, the gcB model exhibits numerically a greater accuracy than the cKdV model in conserving wave energy. In general, the gcB model is found to have excellent conservation properties and can be applied to predict both transmitted and reflected waves simultaneously. It also broadly agrees well with the experiments. A result of basic interest is that in spite of the weakness in conserving total mass and energy, the cKdV model is found to predict the transmitted waves in good agreement with the gcB model and with the experimental data availabl