Politically Acceptable Trade Compromises Between The EC and The US: A Game Theory Approach

A model is developed to quantify the special status of agriculture in the US and the EC trade negotiations. The role of special interests are measured by a policy goals function (PGF) whose weights are estimated for each special interest group. The analysis searches for mutually acceptable, mutually advantageous trade agreements between the US and the EC using a partial equilibrium world trade model coupled with game theory. Results suggest that it is in the best interest of the US (resp. EC) 'for the EC (resp. US) to liberalize whi1e the other follows the status quo policies of 1986. Mutual gains in PGF values to both countries pursuing "large" liberalizations are unlikely to exist, although "small" liberalizations may give rise to "small" mutual gains. Altering each country's action space, and permitting compensatory payments to the most influencial groups yields trade liberalization, but free trade does not result.game theory, trade liberalization, trade negotiations, International Relations/Trade,

The Kheshiya Cattle Skull Ring: Zooarchaeological Analyses

on December 31, 2005, Louise Martin, Lisa Usman, and Joy McCorriston settled on a hard floor in a sparse hotel in Mukalla to watch Pakistan ring in the New Year a few hours to the east. Toddler Jojo slept a cherubic sleep propped up by all the available pillows, having exhausted all episodes of Balamory. During the day, Louise and Lisa unwrapped 6,000-year-old cattle skulls and cleaned them for photographs, measurements, and curation. To say the conservation lab was improvised would overly gloss a battered room with rigged lighting and peeling floors. But the onshore breeze fills the Mukalla Museum, there’s a five-star overlook of the brilliant sea, and you could get a rock lobster dinner for two dollars in those days. ʿAbdalʿazīz Bin ʿAqīl left us only for the morning of Eid al-Fitr, working through his holiday and the final Ramadan vigil. He and Joy kept Jojo busy so that his mother, Louise, could measure the frontal bones and wear patterns on cattle molars. This chapter is the outcome of her analysis, sup- ported by Lisa’s clever conservation solutions and Joe Roe’s statistical skills in the comparison with East African cattle

Effects of participant and target system lability upon PK performance using an I Ching task

Relatively few parapsychological experiments investigating micro-PK effects have been designed to consider psychological or individual differences factors, and those variables that have been considered have been subject to too few replications to give a clear indication of which persons may perform best under which conditions. Previous research by the first author discovered and replicated an interaction effect between an individual differences factor, participant lability, and a situational factor, target system lability. The present study was designed to conceptually replicate that finding using a novel task so as to control for possible artifacts. An alternative task was built around the I Ching divination procedure, which it was felt retained important characteristics of being personally relevant for the participant and intuitively straightforward to understand. An opportunity sample of 34 participants completed a measure of lability and decided upon a personal question that the I Ching could help with. Participants were run individually and completed a Q-sort of all 64 hexagram descriptions based on their applicability to their question. Once completed they cast three hexagrams using a computer based program that used a live random number generator (Live), the pseudorandom function of the computer (Pseudo) and a predetermined list of random numbers derived from published tables (Table). The Q-sort positions were used to rate the applicability of the selected hexagrams. Although the general pattern of performance was in line with prediction, with the highest average ratings awarded to hexagrams selected by the most labile Live method, next highest for the moderately labile Pseudo method and worst ratings for the most stabile Table method, the mean shifts were small and nonsignificant. Similarly, although the highest overall performance was achieved by the most labile participant group, an intermediate level of performance was recorded by the intermediate group and worst performance was by the stabile group, the modest differences were not significant. Therefore, despite the pattern of performance being superficially similar to that reported in previous studies, this experiment was not able to replicate the interaction between participant and target system lability. Possible causes for this failure to replicate are considered

Controversial issues in visual cortex mapping: Extrastriate cortex between areas V2 and MT in human and nonhuman primates

The visual cerebral cortex of primates includes a mosaic of anatomically and functionally distinct areas processing visual information. While there is universal agreement about the location, boundaries, and topographic organization of the areas at the earliest stages of visual processing in many primate species, i.e., the primary (V1), secondary (V2), and middle temporal (MT) visual areas, there is still ongoing debate regarding the exact parcellation of cortex located between areas V2 and MT. Several parcellation schemes have been proposed for extrastriate cortex even within the same species. With the exception of V1, V2, and MT, these schemes differ in areal borders, areal location, neighboring relations, number of areas, and nomenclature. As a result, most anatomical and physiological studies of these areas have been carried out following one or another scheme, in the absence of any general agreement. This situation is inevitably hampering our understanding of the function and evolution of these visual areas. The goal of this special issue is to provide a critical review and evaluation of the literature on the most controversial issues regarding the parcellation of extrastriate cortex, to identify the main reasons for the controversy, and to suggest critical future experimental approaches that could lead to a consensus about the anatomical and functional identity of these areas

Correlation of electrical and structural properties of Au contacts to KOH treated n-GaN

A correlated current-voltage (I-V), electron beam induced conductivity (EBIC) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study of Au contacts to KOH treated n-type GaN is presented. A strong degradation of I-V characteristics occurs following the KOH treatment, mirrored in a reduction in the magnitude of the EBIC current, even though the EBIC images look visibly unaltered. XPS demonstrates a modification in the surfaces states, e.g. resulting in a –0.3eV shift in the binding energy of Ga3d for MBE GaN following KOH processing

Consortial Cataloging Guidelines for Electronic Resources: I-Share Survey and Recommendations

In 2009, the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) charged a task force to update and revise recommendations that address cataloging practice and catalog access to electronic resources for libraries participating in the I-Share union catalog. This article presents the results of a survey and recommendations developed by the 2009 Task Force that cover all types of e-resources. Issues covered include: single or separate records for electronic and print versions of a title; the use of aggregator-neutral and provider neutral records,; the construction and placement of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and notes; and the use of vendor records

Monitoring player fitness, fatigue status and running performance during an in-season training camp in elite Gaelic football

Objectives: To examine selected perceptual and physiological measures to monitor fitness, fatigue and running performance during an in-season training camp in elite Gaelic football. Methods: Twenty-two elite Gaelic football players were monitored for training load, perceived ratings of wellness, heart rate variability (HRV; LnSD1), heart rate recovery (HRR), exercise heart rate (HRex), lower limb muscular power (CMJ) and global positioning system (GPS) variables. The Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (Yo-YoIR1) was assessed pre and post the training camp. With specific small-sided games (SSG) used as a measure of running performance. Results: During the camp, HRex decreased (−12.2%), HRR increased (+10.3%), CMJ decreased (−8.1%) and pretraining LnSD1 (+14.1%) increased during the camp period. Yo-YoIR1 performance (+19.7%), total distance (TD) (+9.4%), high-speed distance (HSD) (+12.1%) and sprint distance (SPD) (+5.8%) within SSG improved as the camp progressed. Δ HRex and Δ HRR were correlated with Δ Yo-YoIR1 (r = 0.64; – 0.55), ΔHSD (r = 0.44; −0.58) and Δ SPD (r = 0.58; −0.52).There were large correlations between Δ wellness and Δ Yo-YoIR1 (r = 0.71), Δ TD (r = 0.68) and Δ SPD (r = 0.68). Conclusions: Daily variations in training load measures across the camp period were shown to systematically impact player’s physiological, performance and wellness measures

Performance at a Precognitive Remote Viewing Task, with and without Ganzfeld Stimulation: Three Experiments

Recent research by the lead author has sought to incorporate ganzfeld stimulation as part of a remote viewing protocol. An initial exploratory experiment (Roe & Flint, 2007) suggested that novice participants can successfully describe a randomly selected target location while in the ganzfeld but did not make a direct comparison with performance in a waking state. This paper describes a series of three subsequent experiments that compared performance at a remote viewing task in a waking condition with a ganzfeld stimulation condition using a counterbalanced repeated measures design. There were only minor variations in design across the three experiments to enable combination of data in a summary analysis. In total, 110 participants produced 43 hits in the ganzfeld stimulation condition (39.1%), giving a statistically significant positive deviation from chance expectation (sum of ranks = 225, p = .000012), whereas in the waking RV condition they achieved 30 hits (27.3%) which is marginally better than chance expectation (sum of ranks = 253, p = .034). The difference in z scores for target ratings in the two conditions approaches significance (t[39] = 1.865, p = .065). In experiment 1, individual difference measures identified as predictors of psi performance were unrelated to target ratings. Participants completed Pekala’s (1991) Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) in order to gauge their responsiveness to the ganzfeld protocol and of the 12 sub-dimensions tested, ganzfeld performance correlated significantly with greater absorption in their subjective experience, lower physiological arousal and less internal dialogue. In experiments 2 and 3 individual differences measure were replaced by measures of transliminality, openness to experience, and dissociative experiences, but these were also unrelated to task success. Data from experiment 2 did not confirm findings using the PCI from experiment 1, though a significant association was found with the time sense dimension. In experiment 3 no PCI dimensions were correlated with task performance, a pattern which was confirmed when data was combined across all three experiments