A Wave-centric View of Special Relativity

An approach to special relativity is outlined which emphasizes the wave and field mechanisms which physically produce the relativistic effects, with the goal of making them seem more natural to students by connecting more explicitly with prior studies of waves and oscillators

U.S. Foreign Trade in Services: Trends and U.S. Policy Challenges

[Excerpt] This report provides background information and analysis on U.S. foreign trade in services. The focus of the report is an analysis of the policy challenges that the United States confronts, especially the challenge of negotiating a set of international disciplines on trade in services and dealing with the complexity of measuring trade in services. The report also focuses on emerging issues and current negotiations, especially those pertaining to the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement

Sulfur-oxygen processes on Io

Laboratory studies of irradiated sulfur dioxide frost have found that sulfur trioxide should be formed as a consequence of the irradiation process. The spectral reflectance of solid sulfur trioxide was measured in the laboratory and it was found that the compound has strong absorption features at 3.37 and 3.70 microns. These features are not present in the spectral geometric albedo of Io. This is interpreted as an indication that sulfur trioxide may exist in such limited abundance that it is undetectable in disk averaged spectrophotometry. It is suggested that the Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on the Galileo spacecraft should be able to identify condensed sulfur trioxide on Io particularly in regions bordering the sulfur dioxide deposits. The presence of elemental sulfur on Io's surface has been questioned on several grounds, most notably the suggested production process (quenched molten sulfur extrusions) and the effect of radiation (particularly X-rays) on some of the allotropes. Mixtures of sulfur allotropes were produced in the laboratory by quenching molten sulfur and it was found that the spectra indicate the presence of certain red-colored allotropes which are preserved upon quenching. The color of the sulfur glass produced is redder when the temperature of the original melt is higher. This is consistent with the suggestion that Io's spectral geometric albedo can be partly explained by the presence of quenched sulfur glasses

Lattice Refining Loop Quantum Cosmology and Inflation

We study the importance of lattice refinement in achieving a successful inflationary era. We solve, in the continuum limit, the second order difference equation governing the quantum evolution in loop quantun cosmology, assuming both a fixed and a dynamically varying lattice in a suitable refinement model. We thus impose a constraint on the potential of a scalar field, so that the continuum approximation is not broken. Considering that such a scalar field could play the role of the inflaton, we obtain a second constraint on the inflationary potential so that there is consistency with the CMB data on large angular scales. For a $m^2\phi^2/2$ inflationary model, we combine the two constraints on the inflaton potential to impose an upper limit on $m$, which is severely fine-tuned in the case of a fixed lattice. We thus conclude that lattice refinement is necessary to achieve a natural inflationary model.Comment: 12 pages, RevTex Two minor changes to match version to appear in Physical Review

Lessons Learned from Electronic Business: An Educational Model of Innovation, Conceptual Change, and Collaboration

As business races to embrace the new technology of the Internet, education, too, must electronically foster the development of resources by people who live and work in diverse locations and educational environments. The goal of this paper is to discuss an educational philosophy that serves a sundry population seeking educational excellence. Lessons learned from Electronic Business and current tools available for accomplishing this task will also be reviewed. To meet the rigors of the New World Community concept, education, like Electronic Commerce and Electronic Business, must embrace the virtual environment and provide a holistic platform that will allow its products to be delivered through enhanced and non-traditional methods

Recognizing the Importance of an Understanding of Autopoietic and Complexity Theories Within the Electronic Commerce Model for Competitive Advantage

Traditionally, management has viewed the organization as a very mechanistic, linear system characterized by a simple and predictable cause and effect. However, complexity theory brings to management an organic, nonlinear, and holistic way of viewing organizational systems. Within the business context in general and the electronic commerce model in specific, the selfproducing and self-organizing nature of the organization combined with the interaction between the autonomous agents of the system, produces emerging patterns and an intrinsic order that flies in the face of the traditional problem-solving techniques. The application of the autopoietic and complexity theories to the virtual systems that exist within the electronic commerce model can assist business management in understanding the nature of the unpredictable, dynamic forces continuously driving forward the dynamics of these New Economy systems. The focus of this research will center on: · identifying the interactive nature of complexity theory within the electronic commerce model;· understanding the virtual society of the electronic commerce model as being functionally differentiated into autonomous autopoietic subsystems, or “meaning worlds” (Teubner & Willke, 1997), which can influence each other only indirectly; · accepting that functional differentiation, complexity theory, and autopoiesis mean it is no longer possible to direct and control these virtual social systems to move along the traditionally predetermined paths through interventions from external systems, such as external entities, business alliances, internal customers, or external customers; · appreciating the creative dynamism unleashed through complexity theory and the autopoietic processes in which the new hyper-extended communication acts to produce new artificial structures within the electronic commerce model that have dynamics of their own and can self-reproduce and self-regulate through autopoiesis; · being aware that these social autopoietics do not give primacy either to the individual or the collective within the virtual social system, but to the emergent new hyper-extended communication system which results from discourses involving the dynamic systemic structures and real people. Hypothesized outcomes of this research also include a better understanding of the emergent behavior of the systems within the electronic commerce model. The application of the autopoietic and complexity theories to these virtual systems can be positively related to organizational success that comes from the networked combinations of freely acting agents. Competitive advantages can be maximized and organizational missions can be achieved though an understanding and application of complexity and autopoietic theories