Going Global

[Excerpt] What power can counter the growing strength of MNCs and the forces of globalization? National governments have an important role to play, singly and together, as do international institutions of regulation such as the European Commission, the World Trade Organization, and the International Labor Organization (ILO). Equally important, we would suggest, is the countervailing power of modernized labor movements working actively at local, national, and transnational levels. Further, we suggest that in the current era, the renewal of national and local labor movements may in fact depend greatly on increased coordination with the labor movements of other countries. Transnational collaboration will be—and should be—an increasingly important feature of tomorrow\u27s global economy

On the relation between viscoelastic and magnetohydrodynamic flows and their instabilities

We demonstrate a close analogy between a viscoelastic medium and an electrically conducting fluid containing a magnetic field. Specifically, the dynamics of the Oldroyd-B fluid in the limit of large Deborah number corresponds to that of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) fluid in the limit of large magnetic Reynolds number. As a definite example of this analogy, we compare the stability properties of differentially rotating viscoelastic and MHD flows. We show that there is an instability of the Oldroyd-B fluid that is physically distinct from both the inertial and elastic instabilities described previously in the literature, but is directly equivalent to the magnetorotational instability in MHD. It occurs even when the specific angular momentum increases outwards, provided that the angular velocity decreases outwards; it derives from the kinetic energy of the shear flow and does not depend on the curvature of the streamlines. However, we argue that the elastic instability of viscoelastic Couette flow has no direct equivalent in MHD.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, to be published in J. Fluid Mec

Relationship between number of contacts Haywood County, Tennessee feeder pig producers had with the Agricultural Extension Service and the management of their feeder pig operations

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of the Agricultural Extension Service upon the improvement of the quality of feeder pigs marketed by feeder pig producers in Haywood County, Tennessee. There was a need to determine the degree of acceptance and use of recommended swine management practices by feeder pig producers also, to determine the relationship between the number of contacts producers had with Extension and their general farm situation, management of farrowing facilities, use of recommended practices, and the number and grade of pigs sold. Data were obtained from twenty (20) feeder pig producers who had a minimum of five sows in production in 1975 and had sold pigs at the Brownsville Feeder Pig Sale for the previous five years (i.e., 1970 through 1974). The analysis of variance F test was used to determine the strength of relationships between the dependent (i.e., number of contacts producers had with Extension) and independent variables. It was concluded that the change in the grade of feeder pigs sold during the five year period by the 20 producers was in the direction of improvement. While the number of Grade 4 feeder pigs decreased from 515 (30 percent of all pigs sold by the 20 producers) in 1970 to 54 (3 percent) in 1974, the number of Grade 1 and 2 feeder pigs increased from 80 (5 percent) in 1970 to 1,045 (27 percent) during the same time period. The feeder pig producers\u27 general farm situation did not significantly influence the number of contacts producers had with Extension except in the case of these producers who planned to increase the size of their feeder pig operation. Producers who were expanding their operation made significantly more contacts with Extension agents than did those producers who were not planning to expand their operation. The number of contacts feeder pig producers had with Extension agents did significantly influence the use of recommended practices regarding the management of their swine farrowing facilities. Producers who were using railings and crates to protect baby pigs from mashing and those who used fans to aid in air circulation in the farrowing house attended significantly more Extension meetings and more swine meetings than did those producers who were not using these practices. The number of contacts that producers had with Extension were significantly associated with their use of five of the 21 recommended swine management practices. In all cases those producers that were using the recommended practices had a larger number of Extension contacts than did those producers not using the practices, however the differences did not achieve the .05 level of significance in all cases. The number of contacts producers had with Extension tended to be significantly related to the number of pigs sold by the producers in each grade. Producers who sold a larger number of pigs tended to have a larger number of contacts with Extension than did the producers who had a smaller operation. The number of office visits and the number of farm visits were more highly related to size of operation than were other types of contacts producers had with Extension. Conclusions and recommendations were also made

Making Transnational Collaboration Work

[Excerpt] The need for transnational collaboration among unions across the world is great and growing in the global economy. Case studies presented in this book demonstrate the active fermentation in cross-border relations and a variety of different approaches, goals, and targets. Yet the barriers to successful collaboration among unions in different countries remain immense: from differences in union structure, ideology, and culture to conflicting interests and differing levels of economic development. What unions have accomplished by operating internationally is important, indeed much more substantial today than ever before. Yet these efforts remain a drop in the bucket compared to the need for coordinated action created by the relentlessly globalizing economy. Unions need closer relations among networks of activists in different countries, between comparable national and local unions, and within multinational corporations. They also need closer relations among key union leaders who, when necessary, can shift resources into transnational cooperation so as to coordinate actions that may lead, ultimately, to cross-border collective bargaining. Finally, unions need a stronger, more coherent and cohesive voice in regulating the global economy, especially in strengthening its much needed social dimension. Labor\u27s voice should be included among those of decision-makers at the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund, and World Bank, and unions should be guaranteed a role in tripartite trade decisions at the national level

Challenge and Potential of Biofuels from Algae

Algae biofuels could give a viable alternative to fossil fuels; however, this technology has to overcome several of hurdles before it can contend in fuel market and be deployed. The main challenges faced are production management, harvesting, coproduct development, fuel extraction, strain isolation, nutrient sourcing and utilization, refining and residual biomass utilization. The solution to these hurdles is simple but needs time and effort. The affordable growth densities, high growth rates and high oil contents are solid reasons to invest notable capital to convert alga into biofuels. Furthermore, bioprospecting (in which natural diversi-ty is used to increase productivity), breeding and classical genetics (for trait identification and improvement), bioengineering (in which synthetic biology is used to improve traits) and fuel molecules are some of the techniques under research that can make algal biofuel competitive with fossil fuel. No technology is without its challenges; same is the case with this new technology, as we lean more to it we discover more challenges and obstacles. Even given these uncertainties, it is believed that fuel production from algae will be widely deployable and priced competitive within the next 7 to 10 years, however we still need expand our un-derstanding of this wonderful organism so we can expand our ability to engineer them for the specific task of developing a brand new energy industry

Theoretical Rocket Performance of Liquid Methane with Several Fluorine-Oxygen Mixtures Assuming Frozen Composition

Theoretical rocket performance for frozen composition during expansion was calculated for liquid methane with several fluorine-oxygen mixtures for a range of pressure ratios and oxidant-fuel ratios. The parameters included are specific impulse, combustion-chamber temperature, nozzle-exit temperature molecular weight, characteristic velocity, coefficient of thrust, ratio of nozzle-exit area to throat area, specific heat at constant pressure, isentropic exponent, viscosity, and thermal conductivity. The maximum calculated value of specific impulse for a chamber pressure of 600 pounds per square inch absolute (40.827atm) and an exit pressure of 1 atmosphere is 315.3 for 79.67 percent fluorine in the oxidant

Electromagnetic Energy, Momentum, and Angular Momentum in an Inhomogeneous Linear Dielectric

In a previous work, Optics Communications 284 (2011) 2460--2465, we considered a dielectric medium with an anti-reflection coating and a spatially uniform index of refraction illuminated at normal incidence by a quasimonochromatic field. Using the continuity equations for the electromagnetic energy density and the Gordon momentum density, we constructed a traceless, symmetric energy--momentum tensor for the closed system. In this work, we relax the condition of a uniform index of refraction and consider a dielectric medium with a spatially varying index of refraction that is independent of time, which essentially represents a mechanically rigid dielectric medium due to external constraints. Using continuity equations for energy density and for Gordon momentum density, we construct a symmetric energy--momentum matrix, whose four-divergence is equal to a generalized Helmholtz force density four-vector. Assuming that the energy-momentum matrix has tensor transformation properties under a symmetry group of space-time coordinate transformations, we derive the global conservation laws for the total energy, momentum, and angular momentum.Comment: added publication informatio

Components of performance in selecting for heterosis in swine

This bulletin is a report on Animal Husbandry Department project number 39 entitled 'Swine Improvement'--P. 6."This report includes much of the material presented by the senior author as a dissertation for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in July, 1952"--P. [7].Digitized 2007 AES.Includes bibliographical references (pages 67-68)