Grand Illusions: Large-Scale Optical Toys and Contemporary Scientific Spectacle

Nineteenth-century optical toys that showcase illusions of motion such as the phenakistoscope, zoetrope, and praxinoscope, have enjoyed active “afterlives” in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Contemporary incarnations of the zoetrope are frequently found in the realms of fine art and advertising, and they are often much larger than their nineteenth-century counterparts. This article argues that modern-day optical toys are able to conjure feelings of wonder and spectacle equivalent to their nineteenth-century antecedents because of their adjustment in scale. Exploring a range of contemporary philosophical toys found in arts, entertainment, and advertising contexts, the article discusses various technical adjustments made to successfully “scale up” optical toys, including the replacement of hand-spun mechanisms with larger sources of motion and the use of various means such as architectural features and stroboscopic lights to replace traditional shutter mechanisms such as the zoetrope’s dark slots. Critical consideration of scale as a central feature of these installations reconfigures the relationship between audience and device. Large-scale adaptations of optical toys revise the traditional conception of the user, who is able to tactilely manipulate and interact with the apparatus, instead positing a viewer who has less control over the illusion’s operation and is instead a captive audience surrounded by the animation. It is primarily through their adaptation of scale that contemporary zoetropes successfully elicit wonder as scientific spectacles from their audiences today

Slamming the Door on Trade Policy Discretion? The WTO Appellate Body\u27s Ruling on Market Distortions and Production Costs in EU—Biodiesel (Argentina)

This paper presents a legal-economic analysis of the Appellate Body′s decision in EU-Biodiesel (Argentina) that the WTO′s Anti-Dumping Agreement (ADA) does not permit countries to take into account government-created price distortions of major inputs when calculating anti-dumping duties. In this case, the EU made adjustments to the price of biodiesel′s principal input - soybeans - in determining the cost of production of biodiesel in Argentina. The adjustment was made based on the uncontested finding that the price of soybeans in Argentina was distorted by the existence of an export tax scheme that resulted in artificially low soybean prices. The Appellate Body found that the EU was not permitted to take tax policy-induced price distortions into account in calculating dumping margins. We analyze the economic rationale for Argentina′s export tax system, distortions in biodiesel markets in Argentina and the EU, and the remaining trade policy options for addressing distorted international prices. We also assess whether existing subsidies disciplines would be more effective in addressing this problem and conclude that they would not

An introduction to the WTO and GATT

This article reviews the history of GATT and the WTO. It discusses the founding principles of the post-WW II world trading system--reciprocity and nondiscrimination. Lastly, the article reviews the economics literature on regional trade agreements and administered protection, two important exceptions to GATT's requirement in trade policy.General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Organization) ; World Trade Organization

Women's Work after War

In the more than 30 years following the all-volunteer force (AVF), the proportion of women serving in the military has increased from 1.8 percent just before the AVF to 14.2 percent in 2008. The majority of women do not stay in the military for a 20-year or longer career; like men, most women only serve a few years before transitioning to the civilian workforce. Although the fraction of the military who are women has risen, as has the fraction of veterans who are women, little research informs how female veterans of the AVF fare economically after leaving service, or whether military service benefits minority women who serve in such disproportionate numbers. This paper investigates the civilian employment experiences of female veterans of the AVF using two sources of data. First, population-based data from the American Community Survey are used to evaluate the employment experiences of female veterans. Second, data from an audit study of civilian hiring practices provides additional insight into the experiences of women veterans transitioning from military to civilian work. We find little evidence of a veteran labor market disadvantage, either for white or black women. Both groups exhibit strong patterns of labor force attachment. Only white women show slightly lower rates of employment (among those in the labor force), while black women veterans show consistently advantageous employment profiles. These positive employment outcomes among female veterans at least partly derive from employer preference for hiring veterans over equally qualified nonveteran women.Field Experiments, Veterans, Discrimination, Hiring, Employment

Understanding the great trade collapse of 2008–09 and the subsequent trade recovery

This article documents the Great Trade Collapse of 2008–09, as well as the dramatic recovery in trade of 2009–10. The authors consider how three distinct policy actions — fiscal stimulus, funding for trade finance and a commitment to refrain from increasing trade barriers — might have affected both the collapse and recovery.Gross domestic product ; Trade ; Recessions

Age and Huddling as Determinants of Metabolic Rate in Grasshopper Mice (Onychomys leucogaster)

The metabolic rates of grasshopper mice (Onychomys leucogaster) were determined every third day from birth to adulthood. Metabolic rates were quantitated by measuring oxygen consumption in an open circuit system. There was a rapid fall in oxygen consumption from the third day after birth until the ninth day. Mice which were housed separately assumed a constant metabolic rate at an earlier age than mice which were kept with litter-mates. The greatest increases in metabolism occurred when immature mice were separated from litter-mates for oxygen consumption determinations. It is concluded that huddling plays an important role in reducing the metabolic rate of young grasshopper mice

Integrating Preclinical and Clinical Models of Negative Urgency

Overwhelming evidence suggests that negative urgency is robustly associated with rash, ill-advised behavior, and this trait may hamper attempts to treat patients with substance use disorder. Research applying negative urgency to clinical treatment settings has been limited, in part, due to the absence of an objective, behavioral, and translational model of negative urgency. We suggest that development of such a model will allow for determination of prime neurological and physiological treatment targets, the testing of treatment effectiveness in the preclinical and the clinical laboratory, and, ultimately, improvement in negative-urgency-related treatment response and effectiveness. In the current paper, we review the literature on measurement of negative urgency and discuss limitations of current attempts to assess this trait in human models. Then, we review the limited research on animal models of negative urgency and make suggestions for some promising models that could lead to a translational measurement model. Finally, we discuss the importance of applying objective, behavioral, and translational models of negative urgency, especially those that are easily administered in both animals and humans, to treatment development and testing and make suggestions on necessary future work in this field. Given that negative urgency is a transdiagnostic risk factor that impedes treatment success, the impact of this work could be large in reducing client suffering and societal costs

A spatial analysis of agriculture in the Republic of Ireland, 1991 to 2000

End of year projectBy linking farm census and administrative data from the CSO and DAF to a geographic information system and analysing the mapping output, this project shows the continued broad division of farming in the state into marginal farming areas in the north and west and more commercial farming areas in the south and east. While this division was compounded by the 1992 CAP reforms, and commercial farming became more spatially concentrated over the 1990s, the influence of the development in the non-farm economy, particularly in peri-urban rural areas across the state, provided local drivers of change that encouraged enterprise substitution to beef production, the farming system most readily combined by farm holders with another job. A full report on the mapping output will be produced in a forthcoming publication (see publications list)