Apparatus for changing the orientation and velocity of a spinning body traversing a path Patent

Development of method and apparatus for spinning satellite about selected axis after reaching predetermined orientatio

China's Changing Outbound Foreign Direct Investment Profile: Drivers and Policy Implications

After decades of negligible outbound foreign direct investment (FDI), Chinese firms' outbound investment has reached significant levels in recent years, challenging international investment norms and affecting international relations. But China's outflows are poorly understood. Seen in context, China is a laggard in global investment, and the country faces numerous internal impediments to overcoming this disadvantaged position. Daniel H. Rosen and Thilo Hanemann review the data behind China's growing outbound investment, consider the commercial and political forces driving this growth, and analyze both foreign and domestic obstacles for Chinese overseas investors. While extensive media coverage has provoked worries that Chinese firms are buying up the world, China remains a relatively minor global investor compared with OECD countries. China's net FDI position remains negative, with $5 of FDI assets under foreign ownership in China for every$1 of Chinese direct investment assets abroad. But China's efforts to rebalance its economic growth and make the shift toward higher value-added economic activity will increasingly force Chinese firms to invest abroad. Government policy has evolved in recent years to encourage and support China's firms to look abroad. Investment regimes in host countries are one obstacle to Chinese outbound FDI, but China's firms are even more impeded by home-made problems, including the parochial executive leadership and a dearth of key management skills needed to operate successfully overseas. Rosen and Hanemann argue that the growing volume and changing nature of China's outbound investment have important implications for policymakers in host countries. Host country governments must clarify their policies and draw a clearer line between legitimate national security reviews and protectionist economic competitiveness impulses disguised as security concerns. The lack of data transparency contributes to the poor understanding of China's outbound investment, and these inadequacies must be corrected if China and investment incumbents are to work together optimally. In addition, given its disadvantaged FDI starting position China should be expected to pull considerable weight to preserve and promote an open international investment environment, including by maintaining openness at home. If China converges upward to OECD outbound investment levels rather than incumbent leaders trimming down to historic Chinese levels due to protectionism, then future flows coming from China can contribute positively to a range of international issues, from financial crisis recovery to mitigating climate change.

Deepening China-Taiwan Relations through the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement

On June 13, 2010, representatives from China and Taiwan held a third round of talks in Beijing on an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) that would liberalize important aspects of cross-Strait economic relations. It is clear from available details that ECFA will be an ambitious accord that fundamentally changes the game between Taiwan and China and hence affects the regional economy and even the transpacific tempo for the United States. Rosen and Wang's economic projections of the effects of a China-Taiwan ECFA point to significant benefits of cross-Strait economic reform, especially for Taiwan, which would increase its 2020 GDP by about 4.5 percent, or $21 billion, from the current trend line. The authors, however, also conclude that the regional economy around China and Taiwan is not standing still but is extraordinarily dynamic. Other agreements in the region will be negotiated (e.g., ASEAN+3), which will impose costs on Taiwan, if it does not do an ECFA, to the tune of almost -0.8 percent of GDP. So the net effect of ECFA for Taiwan would be some 5.3 percent improvement in GDP by 2020. For China, the net results of ECFA are positive, though far less so than for Taiwan in value terms and of course as a share of GDP. For the United States, the authors project a very modest positive result from ECFA (though statistically marginal) but a more negative impact as the scenarios incorporating further Asian integration (ASEAN + 3) unfold. If the US objective is to maximize Taiwan's economic prospects and hence its freedom of independent action, then ECFA is highly desirable, and Taiwan's involvement in further Asian deepening is to be supported. However, US economic interests per se erode as Asia draws tighter together without US inclusion. That is an econometric reality. More significant still is the geoeconomic, qualitative implication of even long-standing nemeses China and Taiwan drawing together in a free trade pact while the United States watches, unable to ratify already negotiated Asian trade agreements like the US-Korea free trade agreement. While modest in global economic effects, the geoeconomic implications of a China-Taiwan economic pact are significant enough to demand strategic attention from the United States and underscore the importance of securing US economic engagement of the first order in Asia.

Approximation techniques for parameter estimation and feedback control for distributed models of large flexible structures

Approximation ideas are discussed that can be used in parameter estimation and feedback control for Euler-Bernoulli models of elastic systems. Focusing on parameter estimation problems, ways by which one can obtain convergence results for cubic spline based schemes for hybrid models involving an elastic cantilevered beam with tip mass and base acceleration are outlined. Sample numerical findings are also presented

Mergers and risk

This paper examines the impact of mergers on default risk, finding that, on average, a merger increases the default risk of the acquiring firm. This is surprising for two reasons: risk reduction is among the reasons commonly cited for mergers, and asset diversification should reduce default risk unless the newly-merged firm takes some action to increase risk. We associate the risk increase with mergers satisfying one of a trifecta of conditions related to agency problems: mergers financed with stock, acquirers with a high market- to-book ratio, and acquirers with poor stock price performance prior to a merger announcement. We also demonstrate higher levels of default risk are not accompanied by higher post- merger returns.Bank mergers ; Risk management

The COREL and W12SC3 computer programs for supersonic wing design and analysis

Two computer codes useful in the supersonic aerodynamic design of wings, including the supersonic maneuver case are described. The nonlinear full potential equation COREL code performs an analysis of a spanwise section of the wing in the crossflow plane by assuming conical flow over the section. A subsequent approximate correction to the solution can be made in order to account for nonconical effects. In COREL, the flow-field is assumed to be irrotional (Mach numbers normal to shock waves less than about 1.3) and the full potential equation is solved to obtain detailed results for the leading edge expansion, supercritical crossflow, and any crossflow shockwaves. W12SC3 is a linear theory panel method which combines and extends elements of several of Woodward's codes, with emphasis on fighter applications. After a brief review of the aerodynamic theory used by each method, the use of the codes is illustrated with several examples, detailed input instructions and a sample case