The Unknown Legacy of the 13th Amendment

On January 31, 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment, declaring slavery illegal in the United States. Or so it seemed. The second line of the Amendment, and the most oft unknown, states that slavery can still be used as a form of punishment for crimes, and this practice became widely used as a part of southern backlash to Reconstruction Era policies. After the end of the Civil War, many southern states struggled with rebuilding their infrastructures and government systems. In order to avoid falling into more debt, many of these states turned towards the convict lease system, which claimed that the state prison could lease out its convicts to local companies, usually in industries such as mining, lumbering, and railroad building, to not only house prisoners inexpensively but also regain the means of labor they had with slavery before the Civil War. By adopting the convict lease system, southern states were able to earn revenue and control the suddenly free black population of the South, and with the development of black codes, these states were able to legally disenfranchise African Americans up until the 1930s when Alabama became the last state to abolish the convict lease program. [excerpt

2002 Coastal Municipal Stormwater Infrastructure Mapping Project

This final report describes the grant program funded by NHEP and administered by DES. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between NHEP and DES created a grant program to provide assistance to coastal communities to develop storm sewer infrastructure maps. DES issued a request for proposals (RFP), chose grant recipients, and managed the grant agreements. This report provides details on the grant projects completed by Portsmouth and Seabrook. The deadline for completion of all grant projects was December 31, 2003

A People’s Journey, A Nation’s Past: The National Museum of African American History and Culture

On September 24, 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture was opened to the public after almost two decades of planning and more than a century of fighting for a memorial for African Americans. Starting in 1915, when a group of United States Colored Troops sought a memorial for their fallen soldiers, African Americans have worked to have their history remembered on a national scale. A congressional commission for a museum dedicated to African Americans was signed in 1929 by Calvin Coolidge, but the stock market crash in October prevented the museum from being built. The memorial was pushed to the back burner until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s galvanized the need for a museum again. In 1986, a joint resolution proposed by Representatives Mickey Leland of Texas and John Lewis of Georgia as well as Senator Paul Simon of Illinois marked the beginning of the modern fight for a museum dedicated solely to African Americans. [excerpt

R&D project announcements and the impact of ownership structure

This paper examines the stock market reaction to research and development (R&D) announcements made by listed UK companies. R&D projects on average are found to be associated with significant positive abnormal returns. However, the level of these abnormal returns varies significantly with the ownership structure of the firm. In particular, it is found that the level of abnormal returns are significantly lower for companies with large institutional investors. This negative relationship may be associated with short-term pressures on the performance of institutional investors

Empirical evidence on the determinants of the stock market reaction to product and market diversification announcements

The announcement of product and market diversification projects lead to significant abnormal returns of 1.1%. However, the gains are higher for new products than for new markets, and for companies with high price-earnings ratios and low (or zero) dividend yields

Exploring haptic interfacing with a mobile robot without visual feedback

Search and rescue scenarios are often complicated by low or no visibility conditions. The lack of visual feedback hampers orientation and causes significant stress for human rescue workers. The Guardians project [1] pioneered a group of autonomous mobile robots assisting a human rescue worker operating within close range. Trials were held with fire fighters of South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue. It became clear that the subjects by no means were prepared to give up their procedural routine and the feel of security they provide: they simply ignored instructions that contradicted their routines

Snowpack ground truth Donner Pass site, Soda Springs, California

Ground truth data taken near Soda Springs, California, on January 18, 1977, in support of the NASA Airborne Instrumentation Research Program are presented. Ground truth data taken in support of this mission were as follows: (1) snow depths were taken every 400 feet; (2) snow densities were taken every 1,200 feet; (3) two snowpits were dug, and limited density, vertical layer classifications, and soil observations were taken; and (4) temperatures of the upper 6 inches of the snowpack were taken at one location

Pioneer 10 and 11 (Jupiter and Saturn) magnetometer experiment

The interaction of a flowing plasma with Titan was studied. A Monte carlo simulation method is planned for the determination of the average flow field and pressure/temperature variations about Titan. Jupiter's magnetic field was also studied. Polynomial expressions describing this magnetic field are discussed briefly