Requirements for multidisciplinary design of aerospace vehicles on high performance computers

The design of aerospace vehicles is becoming increasingly complex as the various contributing disciplines and physical components become more tightly coupled. This coupling leads to computational problems that will be tractable only if significant advances in high performance computing systems are made. Some of the modeling, algorithmic and software requirements generated by the design problem are discussed

Recent experiences with three-dimensional transonic potential flow calculations

Some recent experiences with computer programs capable of solving finitie-difference approximations to the full potential equation for the transonic flow past three dimensional swept wings and simple wing-fuselage combinations are discussed. The programs used are a nonconservative program for swept wings, a quasi-conservative finite-volume program capable of treating swept wings mounted on fuselages of slowly varying circular cross section, and a fully conservative finite volume scheme capable of treating swept wings and wing-cylinder combinations. The present capabilities of these codes are reviewed. The relative merits of the conservative and nonconservative formulations are discussed, and the results of calculations including corrections for the boundary-layer displacement effect are presented

Institutions and development: what a difference geography and time make

Journal ArticleHa-Joon Chang, in his article ?Institutions and Economic Development: Theory, Policy, and History?, provides a description and critique of the mainstream view of institutions and development. It applies well to Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s. However, the effort to introduce these Anglo-American institutional structures (Global Standard Institutions; GSIs) in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in uneven and unstable economic performance, not development. As a result, the relationship among institutions, development and economic policy in Latin America today has generally moved far beyond this ?mainstream?. The institutions to insure macro stability have generally been preserved, and some countries do follow GSI prescriptions. However in most countries, especially in South America, the effort to find the right mix of institutions for development has moved far beyond this mainstream. The result has been innovative initiatives to address more fundamental development issues such as inequality, property rights and international economic institutions. This process is likely to continue, facilitated by the currently robust democratic political systems that grew out of the earlier turmoil

Has institutionalism won the development debate?

Journal ArticleInstitutionalism has again become central to development thinking, accompanied by an appreciation of the variety and complexity of institutional evolution. The result is not the 'old institutionalism' of Thorstein Veblen and Clarence Ayres or the 'new institutionalism' of the early Douglass North. Rather it is a pragmatic combination of the constructs and approaches of the former with the epistemological and methodological advances of the latter, all brought to bear on the many issues of development. The challenges of the development process, and its resistance to reductionism, are the roots of modern institutionalism's contribution to understanding both development and the policies and processes that can guide development initiatives. I will term the current combination the modern institutionalism of development

Data and social science rhetoric: policy and instruction

Journal ArticleI believe that social science and empirical investigation can make important contributions to our understanding and to resolution of policy issues, but only if we are clear on the nature of social science and the role of quantification. In particular we must admit the limits of our truth claims, their communal nature, and the possibility of their being utilized to serve vested interests. We must then be very clear about our potential contribution and must educate our students and the public about what we can offer. Finally, I think that we must find ways of broadening access to our basic data and analyses in order to include a wider array of interests in the dialogue. Visualization techniques graphics-based policy simulations may be fruitful in this regard. If so, we social scientists and social science data managers will still be active participants in the issue/policy discussions and our data and analysis could have an even greater effect on those debates