U.S. International Trade and National Security in the Trump Era: Mercantilism, Liberalism, or Economic Nationalism?

This study will explore the Trump administration’s views of national security as expressed through its international trade policy and ask whether the U.S. is now a mercantilist, a liberal, or an economically nationalist nation. This study will define mercantilism, liberalism and economic nationalism turning for assistance to the writings of Alexander Hamilton, Adam Smith, and Friedrich List. The study will then explore how those concepts may have been revealed in America’s international trade policy as the U.S. navigated the economic and national security events of the 20th century, and on to 2016 as President-elect Trump prepared to take office. Next will come a discussion of the defense and trade views of President Trump himself, as well as those of his key economic advisors. The study will then describe how the Trump administration applied its views about national security in four areas of international trade policy -- the control of imports, the regulation of foreign direct investment, the control of exports, and the implementation of emergency economic powers. The study ends with the conclusion that America’s 20th century history in security and trade revealed it to be mercantilist, liberal and economically nationalist in its approach. It concludes that though Trump altered the balance somewhat between mercantilist and liberal elements in his policies, both elements remained present throughout Trump’s term. Further, the study finds that the U.S. had long expressed its international trade policy in economically nationalist terms, but President Trump’s language was more strident than his recent predecessors. As of this writing, most of the Trump administration’s international trade and security policies remain in place. It seems likely that President Biden’s policies will continue to reflect a balance between mercantilism, liberalism and economic nationalism that has characterized the U.S. approach to security and trade since World War II

Early stages of ramified growth in quasi-two-dimensional electrochemical deposition

I have measured the early stages of the growth of branched metal aggregates formed by electrochemical deposition in very thin layers. The growth rate of spatial Fourier modes is described qualitatively by the results of a linear stability analysis [D.P. Barkey, R.H. Muller, and C.W. Tobias, J. Electrochem. Soc. {\bf 136}, 2207 (1989)]. The maximum growth rate is proportional to $(I/c)^\delta$ where $I$ is the current through the electrochemical cell, $c$ the electrolyte concentration, and $\delta = 1.37 \pm 0.08$. Differences between my results and the theoretical predictions suggest that electroconvection in the electrolyte has a large influence on the instability leading to ramified growth.Comment: REVTeX, four ps figure

Assessing a Novel Adaptation to CCI Devices to Model Human Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) are a health crisis with over a million people suffering injuries each year in the United States. The majority of TBIs are mild injuries which often produce no period of unconsciousness and no gross damage to the brain or skull. A range of TBI animal models exist but many produce injuries too severe to characterize as mild. One TBI induction method commonly used is Controlled Cortical Impact (CCI) devices. New Method: The purpose of this study is to assess a novel adaptation to CCI devices that allows for the induction of mild injuries that mimic human mild TBI (mTBI). In this apparatus, the mouse is placed on an elevated platform which utilizes a sensor to collapse the platform as the impactor hits the head. Results: On the first day of injury, the repetitive dropping platform group had a significantly lower Time to Righting (TTR) than both control and single hit stationary platform groups. Additionally, on the first day of injury the single-hit stationary group had a significantly increased Time to Ambulation (TTA) compared to all other groups. Furthermore, this adaptation produces significantly less GFAP than CCI injuries performed without the falling platform. Comparison with existing models: This model incorporates the high control of the CCI device that may be lost in weight-drop models of mild injury while also producing translational mild injuries. Conclusion: This adaptation can be used in any CCI research lab to translationally study mild injuries. This will facilitate murine research into mTBI

Does ohmic heating influence the flow field in thin-layer electrodeposition?

In thin-layer electrodeposition the dissipated electrical energy leads to a substantial heating of the ion solution. We measured the resulting temperature field by means of an infrared camera. The properties of the temperature field correspond closely with the development of the concentration field. In particular we find, that the thermal gradients at the electrodes act like a weak additional driving force to the convection rolls driven by concentration gradients.Comment: minor changes: correct estimation of concentration at the anode, added Journal-re

A mean-field kinetic lattice gas model of electrochemical cells

We develop Electrochemical Mean-Field Kinetic Equations (EMFKE) to simulate electrochemical cells. We start from a microscopic lattice-gas model with charged particles, and build mean-field kinetic equations following the lines of earlier work for neutral particles. We include the Poisson equation to account for the influence of the electric field on ion migration, and oxido-reduction processes on the electrode surfaces to allow for growth and dissolution. We confirm the viability of our approach by simulating (i) the electrochemical equilibrium at flat electrodes, which displays the correct charged double-layer, (ii) the growth kinetics of one-dimensional electrochemical cells during growth and dissolution, and (iii) electrochemical dendrites in two dimensions.Comment: 14 pages twocolumn, 17 figure

Experimental investigation of the initial regime in fingering electrodeposition: dispersion relation and velocity measurements

Recently a fingering morphology, resembling the hydrodynamic Saffman-Taylor instability, was identified in the quasi-two-dimensional electrodeposition of copper. We present here measurements of the dispersion relation of the growing front. The instability is accompanied by gravity-driven convection rolls at the electrodes, which are examined using particle image velocimetry. While at the anode the theory presented by Chazalviel et al. describes the convection roll, the flow field at the cathode is more complicated because of the growing deposit. In particular, the analysis of the orientation of the velocity vectors reveals some lag of the development of the convection roll compared to the finger envelope.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, REVTEX 4; reference adde

Different paths to the modern state in Europe: the interaction between domestic political economy and interstate competition

Theoretical work on state formation and capacity has focused mostly on early modern Europe and on the experience of western European states during this period. While a number of European states monopolized domestic tax collection and achieved gains in state capacity during the early modern era, for others revenues stagnated or even declined, and these variations motivated alternative hypotheses for determinants of fiscal and state capacity. In this study we test the basic hypotheses in the existing literature making use of the large date set we have compiled for all of the leading states across the continent. We find strong empirical support for two prevailing threads in the literature, arguing respectively that interstate wars and changes in economic structure towards an urbanized economy had positive fiscal impact. Regarding the main point of contention in the theoretical literature, whether it was representative or authoritarian political regimes that facilitated the gains in fiscal capacity, we do not find conclusive evidence that one performed better than the other. Instead, the empirical evidence we have gathered lends supports to the hypothesis that when under pressure of war, the fiscal performance of representative regimes was better in the more urbanized-commercial economies and the fiscal performance of authoritarian regimes was better in rural-agrarian economie