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

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

Going-Concern Opinions: Broadening the Expectations Gap

A rash of high-profile bankruptcies has led to a search for answers. Many hold auditors responsible for not detecting the potential for bankruptcy during the most recent audit. The Weiss Report, a study of several dozen bankrupt companies submitted to the U.S. Senate during its deliberations on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, found a broad and massive failure on the part of auditors to raise yellow flags that indicate potential bankruptcy. The authors examined Weiss\u27 methodology and found that, applied to a broader group of companies, Weiss\u27 criteria would have incorrectly predicted bankruptcy for nearly half of the non-bankrupt companies studied. This failure to accurately predict undermines the credibility of the subsequently enacted legislation

Land Quality and International Agricultural Productivity: A Distance Function Approach

Agricultural productivity measurement has been of great interest in recent years. Although analysts have long recognized that land quality plays an important role in agricultural productivity, land quality has been difficult to quantify and include in productivity models due to d ata limitations. Poor land quality, in the form of desertification, erosion, and poor soil quality, as well as climate and precipitation may limit growth in productivity over time. A Malmquist productivity index is proposed that decomposes productivity into efficiency change, technical change and land quality components and accounts for inter-country differences in land quality. The index is then applied to a 109-country data set covering 1980 to 2003. Many countries with lower productivity growth are limited by their resource endowment, and thus require policies and technology that reflect the needs of those environments.Land Economics/Use, Productivity Analysis,

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

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

The contribution of molecular relaxation in nitrogen to the absorption of sound in the atmosphere

Results and statistical analysis are presented for sound absorption in N2-H2O binary mixtures at room temperature. Experimental procedure, temperature effects, and preliminary results are presented for sound absorption in N2-H2O binary mixtures at elevated temperatures