The Redirection of US Foreign Strategy against the Background of Globalization

American foreign strategy has had strong continuity since World War II despite differences among successive presidents. Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign revealed ideas and goals for US strategy and strategy adjustment that differ significantly from those of predecessors. The decline in relative gains and rise in cost for US involvement in globalization are reasons for Trump to redirect US foreign strategy. The relative decrease of both US trade and foreign direct investment in the US, amid security threats and the identity crisis of the American people, has tremendously increased the pricetag for US involvement in globalization.

Bypass Selection for Control of Heat Exchanger Network

Considering the flexibility and controllability of heat exchanger networks (HENs), bypasses are widely used for effective control of process stream target temperatures. However, the optimal location for the bypass is generally difficult to design with the trade-off between controllability and capital investments. In this paper, based on the steady-state model of heat exchanger networks the optimal bypass location was firstly selected by iteratively calculating the non-square Relative Gain Array (ns-RGA). To simplify the calculation process, rules of bypass selection were also proposed. In order to evaluate this method, then, the structural controllability of heat exchanger networks was analyzed. With both the consideration of the controllability and capital investments, the bypasses locations were finally selected. A case study on the HEN in Crude Distillation Unit was presented in which the ns-RGA and structural controllability were used to select bypasses and also to evaluate the results.

Indirect costs counteract the effects of pollinator-mediated phenotypic selection on corolla size in the mediterranean shrub Halimium atriplicifolium

Aims larger corollas receive more pollinator visits but involve higher production and maintenance costs,especially under hot and dry conditions.this can result in indirect costs on reproductive output,which may counteract the effects of pollinator-mediated phenotypic selection on corolla size.In this study,I explored the relationship between corolla size and indirect costs and whether these costs counteract the effects of pollinator-mediated phenotypic selection on this trait in the mediterranean shrub Halimium atriplicifolium.I hypothesized that(i)corolla production entails direct costs in dry mass,N and P,(ii)corollas entail significant indirect costs in terms of fruit and seed production,(iii)indirect costs increase with corolla size,(iv)this species may suffer pollen limitation to a certain degree and(v)indirect costs counteract the effects of pollinator-mediated selection on corolla size.Methods I compared fruit set and seed production of petal-removed flow-ers(r flowers)and unmanipulated control flowers(C flowers)and evaluated the influence of individual mean corolla size on relative fruit and seed gain of r compared to C flowers.I also estimated phenotypic selection on corolla size mediated by indirect costs and the combined effect of costs and pollinators(i.e.total selection).Important Findings Corollas allocated sizeable amount of resources in terms of dry mass relative to the other floral structures.Fruit set and seed per fruit were significantly higher in r flowers,while individual mean corolla size showed a positive relationship with relative fruit gain.Phenotypic selection analysis revealed cost-mediated negative directional selection and absence of positive directional total selection on corolla size through fruit set.this translated into stabilizing total selection.these results suggest that mediterranean environments can impose constraints on corolla size,counteracting advantages of larger corollas from the pollination point of view with increased indirect costs of such flowers.

New loop pairing criterion based on interaction and integrity considerations

Loop pairing is one of the major concerns when designing decentralized control systems for multivariable processes.Most existing pairing tools,such as the relative gain array(RGA) method,have shortcomings both in measuring interaction and in integrity issues.To evaluate the overall interaction among loops,we propose a statistics-based criterion via enumerating all possible combinations of loop statuses.Furthermore,we quantify the traditional concept of integrity to represent the extent of integrity of a decentralized control system.Thus,we propose that a pairing decision should be made by taking both factors into consideration.Two examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed criterion.