Buck-I-SERV: Uruguay

STEP Category: Service-Learning and Community ServiceSTEP Expo poster about Buck-I-SERV experience in Uruguay.The Ohio State University Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP)Academic Major: Computer Science and Engineerin

The Physics Role and Potential of future Atmospheric Detectors

We discuss the physics capabilities of basic types of future atmospheric detectors being considered at present, with their strengths and limitations, and compare them with those of long baseline (LBL) experiments. We also argue that recent studies signal the importance of synergistically combining complementary features of both these classes of experiments in order to accrue maximum benefit towards furthering our goal of building a complete picture of neutrino properties and parameters.Comment: Based on a Plenary Talk at NUFACT 09, Chicago; 10 pages, 6 figure

Assessing the Modern Era of International Trade

This Book Review surveys The Post-Cold War Trading System by Sylvia Ostry. Part I explains the features of international trade law and policy the book highlights, and the perspectives offered by the book about those features. Part II of this review critically analyzes the book. It identifies the issues not addressed, and the arguments not made. Part II thereby imparts to the prospective reader a sense of what must be learned from other sources on international trade law and policy. Part III offers a brief concluding observation about the future direction of international trade scholarship

Determining whether ICT improves social interactions

[Abstract]: Governments are increasingly aware of the power of the Internet as medium for communication and social interaction. Using the Internet Technology on broadband provides fact access to information and communication. In Western Australia, a network neighborhood is built on the combination of these technologies as a pilot project. This technology is expected to be used by the Western Australian government in order to provide services that would realize in a better quality of life to the residents of this neighborhood. This paper presents the results of a study conducted to test whether ICT actually improves the quality of life by facilitating social interactions as this appears to be a major cause for concern. The aim of the study is to present evidence that ICT is capable of enhancing social interactions and then to justify the use of this technology for improving the quality of life. For this purpose, after studying the Network Neighborhood by a team of students, a survey was conducted among residents of a small township in Western Australia to determine the positive effect of technology or otherwise. The initial survey administered prior to the implementation of the technology indicated that people in the Picton Waters neighbourhood were socially isolated and needed social interactions to improve the quality of their lives

Lessons About NAFTA Renegotiations from Shakespeare’s Othello: From the Three Amigos to America as Iago?

The “Three Amigos” is a common characterization of relations among the North American countries, particularly since 1 January 1994 when the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) entered into force, superseding a deal between two buddies, Canada and the United States, the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (“CUSFTA”), that had been in effect since 1 January 1989. For nearly all of the almost quarter century of NAFTA history, America, Canada, and Mexico enjoyed a stable and growing trade relationship, based on a healthy friendship. Then Donald J. Trump was inaugurated on 20 January 2017, having won the Presidency in part with anti-NAFTA, and particularly anti-Mexico, vitriol. No longer did the common characterization of “Three Amigos” seem apt. As the Trump Administration NAFTA renegotiation goals emerged, that portrayal seemed quite misleading. Instead, Shakespeare’s great tragedy, Othello, provides characters to whom the three NAFTA Parties may be analogized, albeit loosely. The argument of this Article is that on the stage of NAFTA renegotiations, the Trump Administration has changed the script, casting America as Iago, and consequently putting Mexico in the role of Cassio, and Canada as Desdemona. The transformation from Three Amigos to tragic figures is neither complete nor irreversible. But, it is grounded in hard-core, technical trade details, with America at the center of the plot of NAFTA renegotiations, as is Iago in Othello. There would have been no such renegotiations but for the scheming of candidate and now President Trump. He stirred the pot, as it were, in what was an otherwise undramatic, well-functioning, though not problem-free, relationship with Mexico and Canada. Enmity, concealment, improvisation, omission, and corruption are the five hallmarks of Iago that render him infamous among Shakespeare’s characters. Iago hates Othello. Iago conceals the truth from all those around him. Iago is a master at improvisation to further his wicked plans. Iago omits material facts, thereby leading others astray. Finally, Iago corrupts the relationships of those who share the closest bonds. Each hallmark is apparent in the Trump Administration’s NAFTA renegotiating strategy. Trade negotiations always have had a theatrical character to them, characterized by: late-night talks on acrimonious issues among commercial allies and adversaries that thrust deadlines and ultimatums on each other; trade-offs among sectoral interests that sometimes at best are cynical and at worst irrational; and raw power asserted by the economically strong over the relatively impoverished. But, the drama this Administration has brought to NAFTA renegotiations is unprecedented for America’s global theater company (otherwise known as the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”)) and risks an unparalleled tragedy. First, enmity towards Mexico’s bilateral trade surplus with America motivates the Trump Administration’s NAFTA renegotiation strategy. Second, that motivation conceals a corporatist agenda favoring certain powerful American business sectors, such as winter vegetable producers and e-commerce companies—an agenda the Trump Administration is advancing through secret talks with Mexico and Canada. Third, the very engagement in NAFTA renegotiations is an act of improvisation, tossing out most of the clear, final script from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (“TPP”), and concocting a new agenda for discussions. Fourth, the Trump Administration’s NAFTA renegotiation strategy omits serious help for labor interests, an irony when juxtaposed with pledges Mr. Trump made both before and after entering the Oval Office. Fifth, the effect of renegotiations, at least thus far, has been to corrupt the relationships between America and Mexico, and America and Canada. Again, by way of loose analogy, ever since Mexico committed itself to trade liberalization and economic reform in the mid-1980s, evidenced by its signing NAFTA on 17 December 1992,5 it has been a loyal partner of the United States. Loyalty, of course, is a defining virtue of Cassio, the lieutenant to Othello. Canada has supported warm trade relations with America since the 1989 CUSFTA, and indeed since the 1965 pact creating a free trade area in autos and auto parts. Despite disputes with America over softwood lumber and dairy products, Canada’s support for free trade was staunch, redolent of that of Desdemona for Othello himself. The Trump Administration has poisoned the relationship between America and Mexico, and America and Canada, as did Iago with respect to Cassio and Othello, and with respect to Desdemona and Othello