U.S. Foreign Trade in Services: Trends and U.S. Policy Challenges

[Excerpt] This report provides background information and analysis on U.S. foreign trade in services. The focus of the report is an analysis of the policy challenges that the United States confronts, especially the challenge of negotiating a set of international disciplines on trade in services and dealing with the complexity of measuring trade in services. The report also focuses on emerging issues and current negotiations, especially those pertaining to the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement

The logical influence of Hegel on Marx

https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism/1286/thumbnail.jp

Top-down modulation of task features in rapid instructed task learning: An ERP study

Rapid instructed task learning (RITL) is the ability to quickly restructure behaviour into new configurations based on explicit instruction (Cole, Laurent, & Stocco, 2012). The majority of RITL research has been dominated by neuroimaging studies, which suggest unique involvements of the lateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior parietal cortex, although the exact mechanisms of RITL execution remain poorly understood. The electrophysiological responses of 22 adults undergoing a computerised RITL sequential dependency task were obtained, with the expectation that task relevance processes would be observable at posterior N1, anterior P2a/N2, and central P3b. Early top-down amplitudinal modulation was found in N1 for all item types, and this was related to non-target N2 amplitudes, with both time windows showing preliminary support for compositionality of individual task components. Evidence for compositionality in attentional template matching processes was also found in the P2a/N2 complex. Central P3b did not appear to be involved in task relevance processes per se, perhaps being more involved in attentional resource allocation. These findings answer important questions as how to task-relevant feature identification and task component sequencing occur in RITL

Igneous intrusions and thermal evolution in the Raton Basin, CO-NM: contact metamorphism and coal-bed methane generation

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (February 6, 2007)Includes bibliographical references.Thesis (M.S.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2006.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Geological sciences.Tertiary mafic dikes and sills intrude coal-bearing formations of the Raton Basin. This study investigates the role of intrusions in generating methane from coal. Coal samples at four different outcrops were analyzed by vitrinite reflectance, carbon isotopes and petrography. Reflectance values at sill contacts are elevated over a wider zone than for dikes. Coal [delta]¹³C values increase by 1% approaching the contacts of dikes and decrease by approximately 1.5% at sills due to the addition of ¹²C-rich material such as pyrolytic carbon.Xenoliths show little evidence of dissolution for xenoliths within sills with more dissolution for xenoliths within dikes. The lack of dissolution indicates a short residence time, due to rapid cooling once emplaced. The elevated reflectance pattern observed at sills cannot result from long emplacement durations and the very low thermal conductivity of coal is responsible. Intrusions may be very important for methane generation in sedimentary basins

Batman and the Jewish Question

This post originally appeared on https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/02/opinion/batman-and-the-jewish-question.htm

Data Communities: Empowering Researcher-Driven Data Sharing in the Sciences

There is a growing perception that science can progress more quickly, more innovatively, and more rigorously when researchers share data with each other. However many scientists are not engaging in data sharing and remain skeptical of its relevance to their work. As organizations and initiatives designed to promote STEM data sharing multiply – within, across, and outside academic institutions – there is a pressing need to decide strategically on the best ways to move forward. In this paper, we propose a new mechanism for conceptualizing and supporting STEM research data sharing.. Successful data sharing happens within data communities, formal or informal groups of scholars who share a certain type of data with each other, regardless of disciplinary boundaries. Drawing on the findings of four large-scale qualitative studies of research practices conducted by Ithaka S+R, as well as the scholarly literature, we identify what constitutes a data community and outline its most important features by studying three success stories, investigating the circumstances under which intensive data sharing is already happening. We contend that stakeholders who wish to promote data sharing – librarians, information technologists, scholarly communications professionals, and research funders, to name a few – should work to identify and empower emergent data communities. These are groups of scholars for whom a relatively straightforward technological intervention, usually the establishment of a data repository, could kickstart the growth of a more active data sharing culture. We conclude by offering recommendations for ways forward. [This paper is a conference pre-print presented at IDCC 2020 after lightweight peer review.

Getting to Eportfolios Through Assessment: A Process Model for Integrating Eportfolio Pedagogical Concepts Through Training for Program Assessment

The American Association of Colleges and Universities recently named eportfolio as a high impact practice. Eportfolios’ potential to synergize different learning experiences through opportunities for student reflection and self-representation has led to calls for broad adoption at course and program levels. There are many studies of eportfolio efficacy but few accounts of strategies for successful program-level eportfolio implementation. This paper reflects upon the authors’ experience conducting a two-day training for incorporating eportfolio concepts into programs’ assessment models. The authors found that their incremental approach to training benefited participants in identifying assessment model and curriculum experiences that could incorporate eportfolio practices

Structure-Property Relationship of Nanomodified Mesophase Pitch-Based Carbon Fibers

Mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers are known for their excellent thermal and electrical conductivity, high tensile modulus, moderate tensile strength, but poor compressive strength. This collection of properties results from the texture and crystalline structure (together known as microstructure) of the fibers. Fiber microstructure, in turn, develops during processing due to the discotic nature of the mesophase pitch precursor. In prior studies, such important parameters as the size and shape of capillaries in the spinneret, spinning temperature and carbonization temperature have been varied to produce fibers with different microstructures and properties. In this dissertation, the primary research goal was to investigate how the microstructure and resulting transport properties of carbon fibers would be influenced by the incorporation of short aspect ratio multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) or, as a low-cost alternative, carbon black (CB) at ultra-dilute concentrations. Thus, MWCNTs and CB were dispersed into the mesophase pitch precursor at only 0.3 wt%. At this extremely low concentration, rather than acting as traditional fillers, these nanomodifiers served as surface-anchoring agents, which led to changes in the microstructure of the precursor and resulting carbon fibers. These microstructural modifications then impacted fiber and composite properties. In the first part of this study, the effect of nanomodification on fiber microstructure was evaluated. Using light and scanning electron microscopy, it was observed that the cross-section of unmodified (0 wt%) fibers had a well-defined radial texture, with minimal folding of the graphitic layers (average pleat length ~40 nm), especially for the large fraction (~83%) of fibers that exhibited “pac-man” type splitting. The cross-section of fibers modified with CB had a line-centered texture that exhibited increased folding of the graphitic planes (average pleat length ~30 nm) toward the outer surface of the fiber, resulting in ~45% of CB-modified fibers displaying “pac-man” splitting. Fibers modified with MWCNTs were found to have a largely random cross-sectional texture with significant folding of the graphitic planes (average pleat length ~30 nm) across the entire surface, and only ~3% of MWCNT-modified fibers showed “pac-man” splitting. Finally, via x-ray diffraction, it was determined that nanomodification had no adverse impact on crystallite size (Lc ~40 nm and La ~80 nm), orientation (FWHM ~2°), or graphitic perfection (d002 ~0.338 nm). This indicates that nanomodification could be a possible route for producing highly graphitic fibers, which are mechanically toughened by increased folding of the graphitic pleats. The second major component of this work focused on quantifying the density, electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of individual carbon fibers (i.e., single filaments). Using a set of calibrated cesium formate aqueous solutions, fiber densities were accurately measured to be 2.20 ≤ ρ0wt% \u3c 2.25 g/cm3, 2.15 ≤ ρMWCNT≤ 2.20 g/cm3, ρCB = 2.20 g/cm3. Thus, it was determined that external incorporation of nanomodifiers led to a small increase in percent void volume (~2%). This is consistent with a majority of literature studies that repeatedly show the undesired introduction of such voids with the incorporation of nanomodifiers. The single-filament electrical resistivity of the MWCNT-modified fibers (2.75±0.13 μΩ∙m) was not found to be significantly different (at a 95% confidence level) from the 0 wt% control (2.52±0.11 μΩ∙m); the CB-modified fibers only showed a slight increase in electrical resistivity (2.75±0.10 μΩ∙m). Similarly, fiber thermal conductivity (~550 W/m∙K) predicted from electrical resistivity values using the Issi-Lavin correlation showed no notable reduction as a result of nanomodification. Both nanomodified fibers showed a decrease in tensile strength (0 wt%: 1.71±0.21 GPa, MWCNT: 1.12±0.11 GPa and CB: 1.23±0.14 GPa) and modulus (0 wt%: 583±26 GPa, MWCNT: 520±26 GPa and CB: 527±30 GPa). Additionally, although a precise compressive strength for MWCNT- and CB-modified fibers could not be obtained (a result of limitations of the current tensile recoil testing method), all experimental fibers were determined to have a compressive strength of at least ~1 GPa. This is an improvement over previous studies. More notably, the difference in fiber structure achieved through nanomodification resulted in fibers with a better balance of compressive-to-tensile strength (σC/σT → 1), which is not observed for most highly conductivity conventional pitch-based carbon fibers. Another novel result from the present study is that the low-cost CB modifier was able to achieve similar changes in microstructure and properties as MWCNTs. In the final phase of this study, using both experimentation and finite element modeling, a method was developed to measure the bulk thermal conductivity of carbon fibers and their unidirectional composites. When applied to experimental fibers, no statistically significant difference in thermal conductivity was observed between MWCNT-modified (468±127 W/m∙K) and 0 wt% (514±179 W/m∙K) fibers. Additionally, these thermal properties were consistent with those predicted from single-filament electrical resistivity values (0 wt%: 569±18 W/m∙K, MWCNT: 533±20 W/m∙K). Thus, these types of composites could be useful as thermal management materials