The Inverse Domino Effect: Are Economic Reforms Contagious?

This paper examines whether a country’s economic reforms are affected by reforms adopted by other countries. A simple model of economic reforms is developed to motivate the econometric work. Unsurprisingly, the model predicts that reforms are more likely when factors of production are internationally mobile and reforms are pursued in other economies. More interesting is the finding that reforms are not driven by greater trade openness. Using the change in the Index of Economic Freedom as the measure of market-liberalising reforms, we examine two issues. First, we examine whether economic reforms are ‘habit-forming’, and secondly, we identify the most important channels through which reforms are transmitted from country to country. For a panel of 144 countries and the years 1995-2006, we find little evidence that reforms are habit- forming, if anything there is a status quo bias. However, we do find evidence of the importance of reforms in other countries. Consistent with our model, international trade is not a vehicle for the diffusion of economic reforms, rather the most important mechanism is geographical or cultural proximity.Economic reforms; economic freedom; resource flow models; spatial interdependence

Numerical modelling of heat transfer in a tube furnace for steel wire annealing

In order to relieve stresses from cold drawing and to regain ductility, steel wires are annealed in furnaces under prolonged exposure to an appropriate temperature termed as ‘soaking’. This ensures the attainment of the required product quality. Literature suggests that the annealing processes are still determined by trial and error approach due to a lack of standards and also due to the proprietary nature of furnace designs. This paper investigates the heat transfer mechanism in a 12-metre long tube furnace filled with an inert gas and through which a cold-rolled steel wire travels at a specified speed. The length of the furnace is divided into three regions i.e. heating zone, soaking zone and cooling zone of which the heating and the cooling zones are given special attention. The methodology involves the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics by coupling both solid (steel wire) and gaseous zones (Hydrogen or Nitrogen). Radiation has been incorporated via a suitable model and convection taken care of by considering laminar flow of gases. The results suggest that the time needed in the heating zone is influenced by the choices of the surrounding atmosphere, speeds of gas and of the wire. These factors have an impact on the wire drawing speed and eventually on the overall productivity. It is also implied that the proposed numerical method may be used to shorten the ‘soaking’ time and hence to reduce energy consumption. The work demonstrates the usefulness of CFD in understanding and optimisation of the transfer process as well as highlights the challenges associated with numerical results

hagis, an R Package Resource for Pathotype Analysis of Phytophthora sojae Populations Causing Stem and Root Rot of Soybean

Phytophthora sojae is a significant pathogen of soybean worldwide. Pathotype surveys for Phytophthora sojae are conducted to monitor resistance gene efficacy and determine if new resistance genes are needed. Valuable measurements for pathotype analysis include the distribution of susceptible reactions, pathotype complexity, pathotype frequency, and diversity indices for pathotype distributions. Previously the Habgood-Gilmour Spreadsheet (HaGiS), written in Microsoft Excel, was used for data analysis. However, the growing popularity of the R programming language in plant pathology and desire for reproducible research made HaGiS a prime candidate for conversion into an R package. Here we report on the development and use of an R package, hagis, that can be used to produce all outputs from the HaGiS Excel sheet for P. sojae or other gene-for-gene pathosystem studies

Against the Linguistic Analogy

Recently it has been proposed that humans possess an innate, domain-specific moral faculty, and that this faculty might be fruitfully understood by drawing a close analogy with nativist theories in linguistics. This Linguistic Analogy (LA) hypothesizes that humans share a universal moral grammar. In this paper I argue that this conception is deeply flawed. After profiling a recent and appealing account of universal moral grammar, I suggest that recent empirical findings reveal a significant flaw, which takes the form of a dilemma: either there is something wrong with the moral grammar model because we do not actually possess the innate contents (rules, principles, and concepts) it says we have, or the moral grammar model is simply the wrong model of moral cognition. In light of this dilemma, I conclude we ought to be skeptical that the Linguistic Analogy can adequately serve as a general account of moral cognition

Our Title is Our Glory

Neil McNeil High School Celebrates 50 Year

A Study of Unionism in the Broadcasting and Television Industries

It is the purpose of the thesis on the basis of the evidence presented to demonstrate that technological development in the television industry resolves both the jurisdictional and unemployment problems. Rather than resorting to immediate objectives in their collective bargaining agreements with employers the unions should promote long-term programs consistent with technological change. In their historical patterns of collective bargaining the unions have not demonstrated this broad point of view. On the other hand management in the broadcasting-telecasting industry shares with labor this responsibility in meeting the problems of technological change. Too often management has been concerned with limiting the activities of unions without regard of the contributions of unions

An implementation of the look-ahead Lanczos algorithm for non-Hermitian matrices

The nonsymmetric Lanczos method can be used to compute eigenvalues of large sparse non-Hermitian matrices or to solve large sparse non-Hermitian linear systems. However, the original Lanczos algorithm is susceptible to possible breakdowns and potential instabilities. An implementation is presented of a look-ahead version of the Lanczos algorithm that, except for the very special situation of an incurable breakdown, overcomes these problems by skipping over those steps in which a breakdown or near-breakdown would occur in the standard process. The proposed algorithm can handle look-ahead steps of any length and requires the same number of matrix-vector products and inner products as the standard Lanczos process without look-ahead

The versatility of the saxophone as presented through a series of compositions

Master of MusicSchool of Music, Theatre, and DanceCraig A. WestonThe saxophone is used in many different styles, instrumentations, and medians, which undoubtedly makes it a very versatile instrument. This report comprises a series of compositions that have been written to highlight various attributes of the saxophone. The result of these features will allow the reader to have a further understanding of the saxophone as a solo instrument as well as in a variety of different ensembles