The events of 9-11 caused the US military to deploy across the globe in support of the Global War on Terror (GWoT) with the assurance it would receive the resources needed to fulfill those operations. As a subordinate arm of the government, the US military is entrusted to prosecute the policies of its civilian leadership provided they receive the required resources to do so. As this thesis demonstrates however, the military is struggling to reconcile how to deliver the goals of its civilian administration when it simultaneously fails to receive the resources needed to meet their demands. The Department of Defense (DoD) is experiencing a stark increase in its deployments and combat operations. Unprecedented 'peacetime' use of Reserve and Guard forces and remarkable DoD personnel policies have stretched the military thin. Despite substantial military budget increases, the military fails to receive adequate funding for combat operations. Meanwhile, soldiers fail to receive the appropriate equipment needed to fight the emerging threats of the GWoT. The military continues to thin many of its own operations, increase the stress on its members, and over-work its equipment in order to meet the needs of its civilian government. Three solutions exist: maintain the status quo, reduce the scope of the GWoT, or begin military funding on par with past wartime budgets. The status quo produced an overstretched/underfunded military. Threats to US security can not support a reduced GWoT. Therefore, the US should increase DoD end strength, increase GWoT funding, and accelerate weapons research and procurement. / Master of Arts

This study proposes a stratified approach of drought severity assessment using multi-layer simulated soil moisture. SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) models are calibrated for 50 watersheds in the South-Atlantic Gulf region of the Southeastern US and a high-resolution daily soil moisture dataset is obtained at Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC-12) resolution for a period of January 1982 through December 2013. A near real-time hydrologic simulation framework by coupling the calibrated SWAT models with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) coupled forecast system model version 2 (CFSv2) weather data is developed to forecast various water balance components including soil moisture (SM), actual evapotranspiration (ET), potential evapotranspiration ET (PET), and runoff (SURQ) for near-real time drought severity assessment, and drought forecasting for a lead of 9-months. A combination of the surface and total rooting depth soil moisture percentiles proves to be an effective increment over conventional drought assessment approaches in capturing both, transient and long-term drought impacts. The proposed real-time drought monitoring approach shows high accuracy in capturing drought onset and propagation and shows a high degree of similarity with the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), the long-term (PDSI, PHDI, SPI-9 and SPI-12), and the short-term (Palmer Z index, SPI-1 and SPI-6) drought indices. / Master of Science / Drought, a recurring and worldwide phenomenon, with spatial and temporal characteristics varying significantly from across globe, lead to long-term and cumulative environmental changes. Often referred to as creeping phenomena, droughts are difficult to predict and constant monitoring is required to capture the signs of the onset of drought. Spatial variability in drought severity requires an understanding of the hydrology of the region and a knowledge of the relationship between drought inducing climatic extremes and other regional or local characteristics which help build, sustain and propagate droughts. In the absence of long-term observed hydrologic variables like soil moisture, evapotranspiration, simulated hydrologic variables serve an important purpose in understanding the impact of drought on various components of the water budget. However, several continental scale, physics-based models, and large scale remote sensing products find themselves restricted in explaining the watershed scale and sub-watershed scale variability in relation to drought. This study provides a high-resolution simulation of hydrological variables for 50 watersheds in the South-Atlantic Gulf region of the Southeastern US. The high resolution hydrologic simulations provide bedrock for retrospective drought simulations and understanding the response of various hydrologic variables of these watersheds to drought. It also aids in understanding the spatial variability in the relationship, and understanding the impact of seasonality and hydroclimatology on drought. The understanding of the interplay of various water budget components at watershed scale is used in developing a reliable seasonal drought forecasting framework based on the forecasted hydrologic variables from SWAT-CFSv2 coupled models for application in real time with a lead time of 9 months.

Yes

No / Das hoch regulierte deutsche Arbeitsbeziehungsmodell steht immer wieder in der Kritik. Gelegentlich wird es als Grund für die Abwanderung deutscher Unternehmen ins weniger regulierte, mitbestimmungsfreie Ausland genannt, gelegentlich als mitverantwortlich für die angeblich geringen ausländischen Direktinvestitionen in Deutschland oder eine Unterbewertung deutscher Aktiengesellschaften angesehen ¿ das deutsche Modell sei eben international nicht anschlussfähig. Der Beitrag untersucht deutsche und amerikanische Tochterunternehmen in Gro¿britannien, weil einerseits das permissive Umfeld im Vereinten Königreich alle denkbaren Arbeitsbeziehungsstrukturen ¿ kollektive, direkte, Mischformen oder reines Managementprärogativ ¿ zulässt, andererseits mit den US-Tochtergesellschaften das internationale Benchmark-Modell Multinationaler Unternehmen als Vergleichsgruppe dient. Es wird danach gefragt, ob sich spezifische Arbeitsbeziehungsmodelle finden lassen und ob diese signifikante Einflüsse auf die betriebliche Performanz haben. / Hans Blocker Foundation

Yes

Under the Program For Afloat College Education (PACE), Sailors are able to take undergraduate and pre-college level courses aboard US Navy ships through computer-based instruction or under the instruction of a college professor. This post-hoc descriptive study was designed to determine those elements or factors which contribute most to successful outcomes for Sailors enrolled in college level PACE courses. A combination of descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed on a representative sample consisting of 8,124 Sailors enrolled worldwide between July 1, 1995 and May 31, 1996. Dependent variables were end of course grade and PASS/FAIL outcomes. Factors analyzed for each participant included up to 18 variables consisting of a broad array of demographic, career, environmental, academic, and mental ability data. Factors found to have a positive correlation with grade and satisfactory completion rate were age, mental ability, paygrade, years of service, and semester hours of college level courses passed in the previous four years. Formal education at the level of an associate's degree or higher was also positively associated with grade and completion rate. Married Sailors performed better than single, and Sailors who were taking a course for the first time scored higher than those who attempted a course the second time. There were differences by course grouping as well. The greatest difference observed for any variable was delivery mode, a complex dichotomous variable consisting of technology or instructor delivery. On average, Sailors in instructor delivered courses exceeded those in technology delivered courses by one half a grade point regardless of type of ship in which the course was taught or course group such as business, math etc. Recommendations for enhancing PACE effectiveness are provided in order to produce a more efficient and cost-effective voluntary college education program for the Navy. / Ph. D.

Many international graduate students serve as teaching assistants at US universities. As teaching assistants, they carry out significant responsibilities such as leading lab sessions, grading student work, holding office hours, and proctoring exams. When these international teaching assistants (ITAs) cross national boundaries to teach at US universities, they may experience significant differences in the educational cultures. Teaching in a new educational culture offers ITAs both challenges and opportunities for growth. To better understand the experiences of this population within engineering, data were collected from seven engineering ITAs using a multiple-case study approach with each ITA representing a case. Data were collected in the form of weekly reflections and in-person interviews at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester, at an R1 university representative of national averages in terms of international graduate student population in the US. The participant pool represented diversity in the form of nationality, gender, prior teaching experience with the same course, and engineering discipline. Data were analyzed using both a priori codes and inductive coding emerging from the data, with particular attention given to experiences specific to engineering. Based on data analysis, codebooks were developed that operationalize ITAs' experiences and navigational strategies in the context of engineering. While illuminating the intersections of ITAs' teaching experiences with their international and GTA identities, the results point to the complexity and variations in participants' experiences based on various social and contextual factors such as gender, cultural background, prior exposure to the English language, prior engagement with the course material, and interaction with the teaching team. The results point to several contributions, and implications for engineering departments and universities, faculty, and ITAs to better engage ITAs in the process of undergraduate engineering education. In terms of contributions, this study uses intersectionality, a critical framework, which accounts for the complexity of engineering ITAs' experiences to provide systematic accounts of their experiences and navigational strategies while illuminating the nuances related to social, cultural, and disciplinary identities. Implications for the engineering departments and universities include creating an educational environment that values the cultural and linguistic diversity brought by ITAs, and collaborating with ITAs to organize training programs that help ITAs strengthen their communication, workload management, and intercultural skills; those for faculty include helping ITAs manage their teaching and research requirements by allowing for flexibility in ITAs' schedules, and treating ITAs as budding colleagues by using ITAs' existing pedagogical knowledge and scaffolding them when needed; those for ITAs include resisting the institutional pressure to "fit" into the US educational norms by using the pedagogical and cultural knowledge they bring from their home countries to better support student learning, and develop students' intercultural skills; and those for undergraduate students include engaging with ITAs to learn the engineering course content and simultaneously develop intercultural competence. / Ph. D. / In light of the pivotal role played by international teaching assistants (ITAs) in undergraduate education at US universities, particularly in engineering, this research explores the experiences of engineering ITAs. When ITAs cross national boundaries to teach at US universities, they may experience differences in teaching and learning practices. These differences present both rewards and challenges to ITAs. Prior research has explored the rewards and challenges of the ITA experience more generally, but this work has not addressed the unique experiences of ITAs in engineering. Hence, it is important to understand ITAs’ experiences and navigational strategies from a viewpoint that highlights both the issues faced by ITAs and their strengths so that adequate steps can be taken to better engage them in undergraduate engineering education in the United States. To this end, this research focuses on exploring ITAs’ teaching experiences, navigational strategies, and the influence of ITAs’ social identities on their experiences. To address these research problems, data were collected from seven engineering ITAs at a large research-focused university for a semester of their teaching. Data were collected from these ITAs in the form of weekly reflections and periodic interviews. Data were analyzed using existing work on ITAs’ experiences as the starting point. The starting framework was then modified to capture the themes emerging from the data, with additional attention given to engineering specific nuances. The findings point to several contributions and implications for practice. In terms of contributions, this research illuminates the complexities of engineering ITAs’ experiences by highlighting both advantages and disadvantages experienced by them while expanding on our existing understanding of ITAs’ experiences. In terms of implications, the findings of this research suggest that efforts should be made at the institutional level to create an environment that values the cultural and linguistic diversity brought by ITAs, and collaborate with ITAs to improve their communication, workload management, and intercultural skills through focused training programs. Faculty working with ITAs should build flexibility into ITAs’ schedules so that ITAs can pay attention to other personal and professional responsibilities. Also, faculty should treat ITAs as budding colleagues by using ITAs’ pedagogical inputs and scaffolding them when needed. ITAs should use the pedagogical and cultural knowledge they bring from their home countries to better support student learning and develop students’ cross-cultural skills, and thus resist the urge to assimilate into the US educational culture. Finally, undergraduate students should see the presence of ITAs in their classrooms in positive light and engage with ITAs to learn the engineering course content and simultaneously develop intercultural skills.

The main theme of this thesis is the isue of leases and its treatment in International Financial Reporting Standards. The thesis is devided into five parts. The first part is devoted to basic characteristics of the lease, its structure and historical development. The third part focuses on convergence of IFRS and US GAAP in leases. This section contains a summary of the opinions contained in Discussion Paper and decisions made at meetings of the IASB and the FASB after publishing of Discussion Paper. The fourth part deals with practical application of the rules contained in IAS 17 at real lease contract. The last part is devoted to research of implementation of disclosure requirements specified in IAS 17.

This thesis is a history of American and British efforts to halt or retard the Pakistani nuclear weapons programme. It assesses US and UK non-proliferation policy towards Pakistan from the Indian nuclear test of May 1974 to the decline of anti-proliferation activity in 1979 and 1980. A broadly chronological analysis of key government and media sources from American and British archives highlights the development of non-proliferation policy and the factors that influenced anti-proliferation activity. Scrutiny of British-and not just American-involvement in Pakistan's nuclear programme permits an assessment of the existence of a 'non-proliferation special relationship' between Washington and London. This study demonstrates that successive British governments played a significant role in creating, shaping, and at times adversely affecting, non-proliferation activity on the sub-continent. Additionally, this thesis demonstrates that the UK frequently deprioritised non-proliferation concerns in favour of economic considerations, creating tension between London and Washington. Thus, it is shown that there was a close working relationship between the US and UK governments, but the relationship was riven with fissures. Alongside this examination of British policy, this study also examines American policy and attitudes, demonstrating that infighting and conflicts between strategic priorities impaired the effectiveness of American non-proliferation policy. Furthermore, this study offers a detailed examination of the cultural underpinnings of UK-US non-proliferation policy directed against Pakistan. It demonstrates that-contrary to popular and long-lasting media representations-the paradigm of an 'Islamic bomb' played no part in the creation and application of non-proliferation policy. This thesis makes it clear that in UK-US efforts to halt or retard Pakistani nuclear attainment, issues of credibility and global standing were far more significant than religious factors. Overall, this study examines a key moment in non-proliferation history and offers new findings on the Anglo-American relationship and the role of cultural factors in shaping foreign policy.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the extent of euro&rsquo / s challenge to the US dollar as an international currency, focusing on comparisons between these two major currencies&rsquo / international roles and their private and official uses as a store of value, a medium of exchange and a unit of account throughout the world, and specifically in Turkey. The thesis evaluates the roles of the euro and US dollar as financing and investment, invocing, vehicle, reserve, anchor and intervention currencies basically in financial markets, foreign trade, foreign exchange markets, foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate regimes globally and in Turkey. The evaluations highlight the fact that the euro has been successfull as an international currency since its introduction in 1999 and is the second most widely used international currency in all the main international currency roles, after the US dollar. The findings of the thesis indicate that the use of the euro shows an increasing trend and the euro is likely to play an increasingly prominent role in the world, and specifically in Turkey.