A Lost Opportunity? Trade between the United States and China, 1865-1914

American trade with Asia rose from 10% of total imports in 1870 to 15% in 1913. U.S. exports to China relative to the population quadrupled over this period as well. Scholars have studied U.S.-Japan trade for this period but have done little work on U.S.-China interactions. I therefore developed bilateral trade data for the United States and China from 1865 to 1914 and analyzed these data to reveal trade patterns and terms of trade between these two countries. The terms of trade improved for the U.S. between 1895 and 1913. Cotton manufactures and mineral oil were the United States’ key exports to China; exports of these goods increased by factors of 651 and twenty-three, respectively, between 1865 and 1914. Tea imports to the U.S. peaked and then declined drastically during this time period while imports of silk grew in importance, increasing by a factor of eighty-four

Letters From Madwomen in the Attic

This project is a creative and contemplative look into women and their voice (or lack thereof) found throughout literature, specifically in conjunction with the idea of madness. Both in their respective stories and in the realm of readers these characters are often viewed as mad, crazy, or insane. However, here the three characters, Cassandra of Troy, Ophelia, and Bertha Mason-Rochester, are allowed to speak about their experiences, revealing the method to their madness. Cassandra shows how she tries the best she can given the circumstances of a god’s curse. Ophelia is in league with Hamlet in his plot to assassinate his uncle. Bertha expresses the injustices she suffers at the hands of the men in her life and how the world views her through their eyes when they view her at all. Each woman reflects on the path her life has taken and where she will go from there: one finding courage to face the unknown, one slowly losing touch with reality due to guilt, and one eventually discovering closure and acceptance. Through critical analysis of the text and imaginative interplay I was able to achieve believable yet fresh and original characters for these women from canonical literature

Vapor pressures of some coal oil fractions

New data on coal tar oils and data from the literature on pure compounds and oils derived from coal were used for testing the predictions by the correlation of Maxwell—Bonnell. Based on the observation that the discrepancies between the predicted values and the data are systematic, recommendations were deduced on needed modifications to the correlation. A proposal for modification to the Maxwell and Bonnell correlation to improve prediction of vapor pressures of highly aromatic fuel fractions with characterization factors of8 UOPK 10.5 was made. Experimental data were taken on vapor pressures of fractions of coke oven coal tar oils and of a sample of oil derived from coal liquefaction by the SRC-II process. Several coal derived oils were separated into fractions in batch distillations. The fractions were characterized and analyzed, and their vapor pressures within the range of 2 to 800 torrs were measured. A proposed modification for the Maxwell-Bonnell correlation was part of this study

Proposed best practice for projects that involve modelling and simulation

Modelling and simulation has been used in many ways when developing new treatments. To be useful and credible, it is generally agreed that modelling and simulation should be undertaken according to some kind of best practice. A number of authors have suggested elements required for best practice in modelling and simulation. Elements that have been suggested include the pre-specification of goals, assumptions, methods, and outputs. However, a project that involves modelling and simulation could be simple or complex and could be of relatively low or high importance to the project. It has been argued that the level of detail and the strictness of pre-specification should be allowed to vary, depending on the complexity and importance of the project. This best practice document does not prescribe how to develop a statistical model. Rather, it describes the elements required for the specification of a project and requires that the practitioner justify in the specification the omission of any of the elements and, in addition, justify the level of detail provided about each element. This document is an initiative of the Special Interest Group for modelling and simulation. The Special Interest Group for modelling and simulation is a body open to members of Statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry and the European Federation of Statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Examples of a very detailed specification and a less detailed specification are included as appendices

Swine Influenza A Outbreak, Fort Dix, New Jersey, 1976

Published literature and events surrounding the outbreak are reviewed