Limits on interest rate rules in the IS model

Interest rates

Skull Flexure from Blast Waves: A Mechanism for Brain Injury with Implications for Helmet Design

Traumatic brain injury [TBI] has become a signature injury of current military conflicts, with debilitating, costly, and long-lasting effects. Although mechanisms by which head impacts cause TBI have been well-researched, the mechanisms by which blasts cause TBI are not understood. From numerical hydrodynamic simulations, we have discovered that non-lethal blasts can induce sufficient skull flexure to generate potentially damaging loads in the brain, even without a head impact. The possibility that this mechanism may contribute to TBI has implications for injury diagnosis and armor design.Comment: version in press, Physical Review Letters; 17 pages, 5 figures (includes supplementary material

The Relationship between Cost Analysis and Program Management

Cost analysis if often viewed as applying basic principles and cost methodologies to determine total system cost. These finished estimates then flow into a decision making process and the cost estimator leaves the stage. Reality shows that the cost estimator is actually one of the main contributors to the decision making process. Our introduction to this special issue explores the areas where cost estimating plays a major role in program management in areas beyond the normal program estimate. We have included articles that show the key role estimators can play in source selection strategies and evaluation; cost of delay analysis for management decisions, earned value management methods to predict program costs; decision criteria to rank competing projects that complement traditional cost-based methods; and a new methodology for determining research and development budget profiles

EVALUATION OF A FINANCIAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM IN BUSINESS EDUCATION: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

This study explores the use of computers in business education and its impact on the performance of students. A controlled experimental study has been carried out to determine the differences in performance of students in a computer assisted mstruction (CAI) group with that of a control group. It investigates the relationship between performance and various student-specific characteristics such as aptitude, attitude, sex, domain experience, domain expertise, and system experience. The relationships b between attitude towards CAI, fulfillment of expectations, and satisfaction with the system and course have also been explored. The results indicate that CAI has favorable effects on students\u27 performance and that personal attributes have relatively less important roles to play

THE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS AREA: PROBLEMS, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Management Information Systems has evolved as an area in which teaching and research is common. In order to consolidate advances made to date in this area and to meet new and significant challenges, a number of problems must be overcome. This paper identifies and discusses the problems, suggests methods fortheir solution, and concludes by looking toward future opportunities for the area

Forming Behavior and the Structure of Glasses

The effect of forming on arsenic selenide glass fiber drawn under extreme conditions are discussed in detail. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) data are correlated with previously published time-of-flight (TOF) neutron scattering, nuclear quadrupole resonance (NOR) data to argue that the structure of As₂Se₃ glass pulled under extreme conditions is oriented and that some of the extreme structures imposed in the arsenic selenide fibers relax at room temperature. Α model is proposed for the sequence of events suggesting a regime of interchain breakage followed by reformation followed by intrachain breakage. Also evident are unexpected small ring structures as a result of low temperature healing process

Critical Corrosion Pit Depth for Fatigue Crack Initiation in 2024-t3, 6061-t6 and 7075-t6 Aluminum Alloys

This paper studied the effects of corrosion pitting of 2024-T3, 6061-T6 and 7075-T6 aluminum alloys in 1.6 mm (0.063 inch) sheet thickness and determine the critical pit depth required for fatigue crack initiation. The corrosion pitting was accomplished using a 3.5% NaCl solution with hydrogen peroxide added as an accelerant. The average pitting depth required to initiate fatigue cracks was determined to be 2-4 m (0.00008 - 0.00016 inches). Cracks initiated once pitting had penetrated about 50% of the surface grain thickness. Ratchet marks were noted on the fracture surface of the failed specimens, indicating multiple fatigue initiation sites. Corrosion pitting reduced the life of the laser cut 2024-T3 specimens to a much lesser degree that the machine cut 2024-T3 specimens, indicating that laser cutting is not necessarily bad.Mechanical & Aerospace Engineerin

Corporate Political Power and US Foreign Policy, 1981-2002: The Role of the Policy-Planning Network

Recent empirical work has offered strong support for ‘biased pluralism’ and ‘economic elite’ accounts of political power in the United States, according a central role to interest groups as a mechanism through which corporate influence is exerted. Here, we propose an additional channel of influence for corporate interests: the ‘policy-planning network,’ consisting of corporate- dominated foundations, think tanks, and elite policy-discussion groups. To evaluate this assertion, we coded the policy preferences of one key policy-discussion group, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), on 295 foreign policy issues during the 1981-2002 period. In logistic regression analyses, the preferences of economic elites and the CFR were positive, statistically significant predictors of foreign policy outcomes while interest group preferences were not. These findings were further supported with a qualitative investigation of the patterns of CFR ‘successes’ and ‘failures.’ We conclude that ‘biased pluralism’ models should include corporate influence exerted through the policy-planning network

The Far-Ultraviolet Spectrum and Short Timescale Variability of AM Herculis from Observations with the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope

Using the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), we have obtained 850-1850 angstrom spectra of the magnetic cataclysmic variable star AM Her in the high state. These observations provide high time resolution spectra of AM Her in the FUV and sample much of the orbital period of the system. The spectra are not well-modelled in terms of simple white dwarf (WD) atmospheres, especially at wavelengths shortward of Lyman alpha. The continuum flux changes by a factor of 2 near the Lyman limit as a function of orbital phase; the peak fluxes are observed near magnetic phase 0.6 when the accreting pole of the WD is most clearly visible. The spectrum of the hotspot can be modelled in terms of a 100 000 K WD atmosphere covering 2% of the WD surface. The high time resolution of the HUT data allows an analysis of the short term variability and shows the UV luminosity to change by as much as 50% on timescales as short as 10 s. This rapid variability is shown to be inconsistent with the clumpy accretion model proposed to account for the soft X-ray excess in polars. We see an increase in narrow line emission during these flares when the heated face of the secondary is in view. The He II narrow line flux is partially eclipsed at secondary conjunction, implying that the inclination of the system is greater than 45 degrees. We also present results from models of the heated face of the secondary. These models show that reprocessing on the face of the secondary star of X-ray/EUV emission from the accretion region near the WD can account for the intensities and kinematics of most of the narrow line components observed.Comment: 19 pp., 12 fig., 3 tbl. To appear in The Astrophysical Journal. Also available at http://greeley.pha.jhu.edu/papers/amherpp.ps.g