Capital Ideas - Winning State Funding for Transportation: Lessons from Recent Successes

In 2015, Congress will once again debate transportation funding at the federal level. It would be in the best interests of the nation for them to fix the perpetual shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund and set the country on a path toward a 21st century infrastructure. It is important to note that all of the states that have acted thus far, and those working to do so this year or beyond, are doing so in expectation of ongoing federal support. Governors and legislators have acted because states face growing needs and static or falling revenues. The situation has been made worse by federal funding that has remained flat as costs have risen, and could grow disastrously worse should Congress reduce federal support in the upcoming renewal of the national program. Regardless of what happens in Washington, states know that Congress will never appropriate enough support to close the gap needed to address maintenance backlogs and build for the future. Governors and legislators recognize that they can be leaders on this issue, working across party lines, generating new funding mechanisms, and creating new coalitions in support of transportation investment. The strategies and examples discussed in this report are intended to be a helpful guide for those emerging leaders as they navigate the unique context of their own individual states to pass transportation revenue legislation, and in turn, set an example for others to follow in the future

Tibet and China: The Interpretation of History Since 1950

This article examines the way Tibet’s history and its relations with China have been interpreted and described in China since 1950. While China has long claimed that Tibet became part of China in the thirteenth century under the Yuan Dynasty, much evidence shows that this interpretation is a twentieth century construction. A more assertive Chinese position holds that historical China consists of the territory of the Qing Dynasty at its height, and that all within those boundaries have been uniquely part of China since ancient times, well before the Yuan era, and indeed since before the beginning of recorded history

Pho-lha-nas, Khang-chen-nas, and the Last Era of Mongol Domination in Tibet

The lives of Pho-lha-nas and Khang-chen-nas are well known, most importantly from Luciano Petech’s seminal study of early 18th-century Tibet. Since the publication of that study, the appearance of several previously inaccessible sources has allowed us to form a fuller image of the situation in Tibet before and during their lifetimes, a period that coincided with the last era of Mongol dominion in Tibet. The effects of this domination and the concomitant integration of Tibetans and Mongols in military, political and other spheres of Tibetan life were observable decades after the end of Pho-lha-nas’s rule. As a result, while the Dga’-ldan pho-brang government of the Dalai Lamas is a useful lens through which to view Tibet’s history at this time, it is equally useful to construct a view of Tibet as simultaneously a Mongol realm, a “Qanate of Tibet.

Tibet and China: The Interpretation of History Since 1950

This article examines the way Tibet’s history and its relations with China have been interpreted and described in China since 1950. While China has long claimed that Tibet became part of China in the thirteenth century under the Yuan Dynasty, much evidence shows that this interpretation is a twentieth century construction. A more assertive Chinese position holds that historical China consists of the territory of the Qing Dynasty at its height, and that all within those boundaries have been uniquely part of China since ancient times, well before the Yuan era, and indeed since before the beginning of recorded history

Le Tibet et la Chine : l’interprétation de l’histoire depuis 1950

Cet article analyse la façon dont l’histoire du Tibet et ses relations avec la Chine ont été interprétées et décrites en Chine depuis 1950. La Chine a longtemps prétendu que le Tibet lui avait été rattaché au XIIIe siècle, sous la dynastie des Yuan, mais de nombreux éléments démontrent que cette interprétation est une construction du XXe siècle. Une position chinoise plus dure affirme que la Chine historique correspond au territoire de la dynastie des Qing à son apogée, et que tout ce qui se trouve à l’intérieur de ces frontières a toujours fait partie de la Chine depuis les temps anciens, bien avant la période Yuan, et même avant les débuts connus de l’histoire

Extending Color Psychology to the Personality Realm: Interpersonal Hostility Varies by Red Preferences and Perceptual Biases

The color psychology literature has made a convincing case that color is not just about aesthetics, but also about meaning. This work has involved situational manipulations of color, rendering it uncertain as to whether color-meaning associations can be used to characterize how people differ from each other. The present research focuses on the idea that the color red is linked to, or associated with, individual differences in interpersonal hostility. Across four studies (N = 376 undergraduates), red preferences and perceptual biases were measured along with individual differences in interpersonal hostility. It was found that (a) a preference for the color red was higher as interpersonal hostility increased, (b) hostile people were biased to see the color red more frequently than nonhostile people, and (c) there was a relationship between a preference for the color red and hostile social decision making. These studies represent an important extension of the color psychology literature, highlighting the need to attend to person-based, as well as situation-based, factors

Lateralized hippocampal oscillations underlie distinct aspects of human spatial memory and navigation

The hippocampus plays a vital role in various aspects of cognition including both memory and spatial navigation. To understand electrophysiologically how the hippocampus supports these processes, we recorded intracranial electroencephalographic activity from 46 neurosurgical patients as they performed a spatial memory task. We measure signals from multiple brain regions, including both left and right hippocampi, and we use spectral analysis to identify oscillatory patterns related to memory encoding and navigation. We show that in the left but not right hippocampus, the amplitude of oscillations in the 1–3-Hz “low theta” band increases when viewing subsequently remembered object–location pairs. In contrast, in the right but not left hippocampus, low-theta activity increases during periods of navigation. The frequencies of these hippocampal signals are slower than task-related signals in the neocortex. These results suggest that the human brain includes multiple lateralized oscillatory networks that support different aspects of cognition

Functionally distinct high and low theta oscillations in the human hippocampus.

Based on rodent models, researchers have theorized that the hippocampus supports episodic memory and navigation via the theta oscillation, a ~4-10 Hz rhythm that coordinates brain-wide neural activity. However, recordings from humans have indicated that hippocampal theta oscillations are lower in frequency and less prevalent than in rodents, suggesting interspecies differences in theta\u27s function. To characterize human hippocampal theta, we examine the properties of theta oscillations throughout the anterior-posterior length of the hippocampus as neurosurgical subjects performed a virtual spatial navigation task. During virtual movement, we observe hippocampal oscillations at multiple frequencies from 2 to 14 Hz. The posterior hippocampus prominently displays oscillations at ~8-Hz and the precise frequency of these oscillations correlates with the speed of movement, implicating these signals in spatial navigation. We also observe slower ~3 Hz oscillations, but these signals are more prevalent in the anterior hippocampus and their frequency does not vary with movement speed. Our results converge with recent findings to suggest an updated view of human hippocampal electrophysiology. Rather than one hippocampal theta oscillation with a single general role, high- and low-frequency theta oscillations, respectively, may reflect spatial and non-spatial cognitive processes

Implications of Unconnected Micro, Molecular, and Molar Level Research in Psychology: The Case of Executive Functions, Self-Regulation, and External Regulation

The proliferation of research production in Psychology as a science has been increasing exponentially. This situation leads to the necessity of organizing the research production into different levels of analysis that make it possible to delimit each research domain. The objective of this analysis is to clearly distinguish the different levels of research: micro-analysis, molecular, and molar. Each level is presented, along with an analysis of its benefits and limitations. Next, this analysis is applied to the topics of Executive Functions, Self-Regulation, and External Regulation. Conclusions, limitations, and implications for future research are offered, with a view toward a better connection of research production across the different levels, and an allusion to ethical considerationsThis study was supported by R&D Project EDU2011-24805, PGC2018-094672-B-I00 (Ministry of Science and Education, Spain), and UAL18-SEJ-DO31-A-FEDER (University of Almería), and the European Social Fund