An Evaluation of Batra's “Fallacy of Free Trade”*

Batra (1992) argues that international trade since 1972 has lowered the living standards of most Americans (whose income results from providing labor services), while benefiting the small group of capital owners. This commentary shows that Batra's arguments are based on incorrect data and that his analyses are grossly lopsided. Batra further claims that the manufacturing base of the United States is shrinking due to international trade and that, therefore, this sector should be protected. the facts, however, counter Batra's contention, thereby dealing a fatal blow to his policy recommendation. This commentary refutes several additional assertions in Batra's paper.     

Hospitality managers' importance perceptions of human resource practices related to employment of foreign workers in the United States

ABSTRACT

Cross-border labor mobility of hospitality employees has resulted in an increase in illegal immigrants in the workforce. The purpose of this study was to generate a list of top legal issues associated with the employment of foreign workers in the U.S. hospitality industry and to identify factors defined by the importance ratings of these issues. Snowball sampling was used to collect data from hospitality managers. Findings reveal that respondents perceive document verification to be important but may not perceive knowledge of various visa types and employment termination reporting procedures associated with employing foreign workers to be important. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Flood Intensification due to Changes in Land Use

The non-stationarity in runoff regime may be attributed to various causes such as climate change, land use change, and man-made runoff control structures. Degradation of land use can induce significant impact on infiltration and surface roughness leading to higher flood discharges. This study aims at quantifying possible effects of land use changes and identifying flood source areas for future flood control planning in the Golestan watershed located northeast of Iran. A preliminary trend analysis on the annual maximum flood record of three stations inside the watershed showed that two stations were subject to anthropogenic change. This is while no trend could be detected in the annual maximum rainfall records in the region. Using a calibrated event-based rainfall-runoff model, flood hydrographs corresponding to land use conditions in 1967 and 1996 were simulated and relative changes in the peak flow of the two subsequent conditions were determined for different return periods. The results showed that the impact of land use changes on the flood peak discharge is considerably greater in some subwatersheds. Two limiting land use scenarios were also considered to investigate the envelope of future flood peaks in the watershed. By successively eliminating subwatersheds from the simulation process in a method titled "unit flood response”, the contribution of each subwatershed to the outlet flood peak was quantified. Contribution, per unit area, to the outlet flood peak was the basis to rank the subwatersheds in terms of their flood potential.     

Reservoir Operation by a New Evolutionary Algorithm: Kidney Algorithm

This article shows an application of a new algorithm, called kidney algorithm, for reservoir operation which employs three different operators, namely filtration, secretion, and excretion that lead to faster convergence and more accurate solutions. The kidney algorithm (KA) was used for generating the optimal operation of a reservoir namely; Aydoghmoush dam in eastern Azerbaijan province in Iran whose purpose was to decrease irrigation deficit downstream of the dam. Results from the algorithm were compared with those by other evolutionary algorithms, including bat (BA), genetic (GA), particle swarm (PSO), shark (SA), and weed algorithms (WA). The results showed that the kidney algorithm provided the best performance against the other evolutionary algorithms. For example, the computational time for the KA was 3 s, 2 s, 4 s, 6 s and 3 s less than BA, SA, GA PSA and WA, respectively. Also, the objective function for the optimization problem was the minimization of the irrigation deficits and its value for the KA was 55%, 28%, 52%, 44 and 54% less than GA, SA, WA, BA and PSA, respectively. Also, the different performance indexes showed the superiority of the KA compared to the other algorithms. For example, the root mean square error for the KA was 74%, 61%, 68%, 33 and 54% less than GA, SA, WA, BA and PSA, respectively. Different multi criteria decision models were used to select the best models. The results showed that the KA achieved the first rank for the optimization problem and thus, it shows a high potential to be applied for different problems in the field of water resources management.     

Evaluating the Effect of Downstream Channel Width Variation on Hydraulic Performance of Arched Plan Stepped Spillways

In the present study, a 3D physical model with a scale of 1:50 was developed based on the Germi-Chay dam. The model was used to assess the impact of downstream channel width variation on the efficiency of arched plan stepped spillways. Four ratios of downstream channel width to spillway crest width (Wch/W) were considered which range from 0.214 to 0.286. The hydraulic parameters such as water surface profile, static pressure, discharge coefficient, energy dissipation, and stage-discharge were assessed for each model. Results of the experiments indicated that the values of the discharge coefficient increased with increasing the upstream head values before the submergence state occurrence. However, in this state, the downstream channel width variations had no significant impact on the discharge coefficient. On the other hand, with spillway submergence, influence on discharge coefficient was observed when width variations occurred. Observations showed that an increase in the width ratio caused a decrease in static pressure. In addition, the results of the submerged state clearly showed the effect of the width ratio variations on energy dissipation. For a particular discharge, the highest width ratio led to minimal energy dissipation. Results revealed that the most efficient model was when Wch/W?=?0.286. This model was the only one that successfully passed the probable maximum flood discharge in the maximum allowable height (5 m).

     

The interplay of international trade,economic growth and income convergence: a brief intellectual history of recent developments

The literature on the interplay of international trade, economic growth, and income convergence across economies has proliferated in the past few decades. The present essay reviews the theoretical advancements and empirical findings in this literature. The focus will be on recent developments with a few glances at the past. The essay also describes new findings and insights into the role of international trade in global income distribution. Ideas for further research are offered throughout the essay.