British businessmen and the 'scientific' tariff : a study of Joseph Chamberlain's Tariff Commission, 1903-1921, with special reference to the period 1903-1913

This thesis examines the history of Joseph Chamberlain's Tariff Commission, with special reference to the years 1903-13, when Tariff Reform bulked so large in British politics.Chapter 1 charts the difficulties that the complex debate posed for Tariff Reformers. In his 'first campaign' Chamberlain attempted to avoid them, at first by avoiding details of his policy, and subsequently by promising the establishment of a 'commission' of businessmen which would draft a 'costless', 'scientific' tariff.Chapter 2 tells of the backstage moves that led to the formation of the Commission. Its main purpose, however, is to examine the ideology of Hewins, the Commission's secretary and Tariff Reform's leading economic thinker. As a historical economist, he believed that neo-classical economics paid insufficient attention to economic dynamics, and that inductive study would reveal the causes and remedies of Britain's economic 'decline'.Chapter 3 examines the economic interests of the business members of the Commission. It suggests that fiscal allegiance was less simply a matter of industrial interest than some historians have thought. Often, it was political alignment which determined fiscal allegiance. Nevertheless, broad industrial biases remain, and on this wider front strict determinism remains a valid element in the analysis.Chapter 4 uncovers the working of the Commission. Its rigid methodology, particularly the 'reduction' process, imparted bias into its operations in spite of Hewins's belief that, since facts were facts and description revealed causation, neutrality on the fiscal issue was unimportant. Furthermore, businessmen aiding the inquiry were self-selecting, another element imparting bias.Chapter 5 examines the Commission's inquiry into the iron and steel industry, including a study 1n more detail of the 'reduction' process which lay at the core of its method. The Commission's treatment of dumping and of the effect of a tariff on price are given special attention. The chapter concludes by studying the Commission's drafting of a tariff schedule, demonstrating both the economic and the political difficulties encountered.Chapter 6 shows the Commission's handling of a strongly Free Trade industry, cotton, and its admission that the case for protection was weak. Finding in its quite careful statistical analysis that the British industry was in relative decline, the Commission argued that 'retaliation 'was the best long-term safeguard of the industry's prosperity.Chapter 7 discusses the inquiry into agriculture. The Agricultural Committee was less cautious than its parent, but even here political considerations and conflicting interests within agriculture put severe constraints on its recommendations. Though improving agriculture's lot an the Tariff Reform package, the Committee probably did not dispel the suspicion amongst many farmers that, compared with industry, they stood to gain little from Chamberlain's policy.Chapter 8 analyses the Commission's failure, for both political and economic reasons, to draft tariff schedules for most industries it studied, its failure to encompass banking in its examination, and its failure to produce an integrated tariff which harmonised interests between different industries. Propagandist activity, never absent from Commission business, increased as Hewins ventured directly into politics himself. The chapter concludes with a survey of the Commission's activities during the First World War, by which time its original purpose had been forgotten

Using Computer Technology to Map Local Farms for Rapid Response in Agricultural Emergencies

An emergency or disaster can strike at any time without warning. This article describes how educators can use computer technology to map local farms for rapid response in agricultural emergencies. Critical farm data such phone contacts, global position systems location, and resources available for disaster recovery initiatives can quickly be imported into a computer mapping program. Then, at a click of a button, the information provided from a farm is opened in a message box. This allows for quick communication to farms during an emergency. This article also describes how this technology can be used for other Extension applications

Synthesis of robust controllers

At the 1990 American Controls Conference a benchmark problem was issued as a challenge for designing robust compensators. Many compensators were presented in response to the problem. In previous work Stochastic Robustness Analysis (SRA) was used to compare these compensators. In this work SRA metrics are used as guides to synthesize robust compensators, using the benchmark problem as an example

Designing robust control laws using genetic algorithms

The purpose of this research is to create a method of finding practical, robust control laws. The robustness of a controller is judged by Stochastic Robustness metrics and the level of robustness is optimized by searching for design parameters that minimize a robustness cost function

Sphingosine 1-phosphate Receptor Signaling in Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are a multipotent cell population acquired most prominently from bone marrow with the capacity to differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, cardiomyoctes, fibroblasts and other cell types. The immunoprivileged nature of these cells combined with their ability to home to sites of injury enhances therapeutic interest in this stem cell population. Phase I‐III clinical trials are being conducted evaluating the therapeutic potential of MSCs in graft vs. host disease, following acute myocardial infarction, multiple sclerosis, and bone and cartilage diseases. Sphingosine 1‐phosphate (S1P) is a biologically active sphingolipid impacting proliferation, apoptosis, inflammation, and angiogenesis. Interactions with 5 G‐protein coupled S1P receptors (S1PR1‐5) mediate in part these functions. Whereas S1PR1‐R3 are ubiquitously expressed, S1PR4 and S1PR5 have more limited expression. This project seeks to assess the role of the S1PRs in the maintenance of a multipotent MSC population and the impact of modulation of S1PR2 on the progression of prostate cancer. Inhibition of S1PR2 results in increased MSC clonogenicity, migration, and proliferation. The increased Erk phosphorylation observed with S1PR2 inhibition is required for these increases in migration and proliferation. Furthermore, decreased S1PR2 expression decreases the differentiation of MSCs into adipocytes and mature osteoblasts that may be the result of increased expression of MSC pluripotency factors including Nanog, Sox9, and Oct4. Inhibition of S1PR1 and S1PR3 in contrast does not impact MSC migration or Erk activation although increased proliferation is observed. In the study, we describe the essential role of S1PR2 in MSC differentiation pathways through modification of pluripotency factors. We propose a MAPK dependent mechanism through S1PR2 inhibition that promotes equally pluripotent MSC proliferation in a way that can be exploited for better ex vivo MSC expansion in autologous MSC transplant. When MSCs are co-cultured with murine prostate cancer cells, an increased stem cell population is observed with greater proliferation of cancer cells following inhibition of S1PR2. We therefore proposed that S1PR2 in MSCs within the tumor microenvironment enhances the metastatic potential of tumors

Stochastic robustness

To carry out stochastic robustness analysis, an expected probability distribution is assigned to each uncertain parameter in the system. The Monte Carlo analysis proceeds by repeatedly assigning shaped random values to each plant parameter, evaluating the stability of performance metric, and performing the binary classification (stable/unstable, etc.). If the system is stable, the state response to a unit disturbance impulse can be propagated to establish whether the response would violate settling time envelopes and whether peak actuator use would violate predetermined maximums. The final estimates of the probability of each form of unacceptable behavior are found by dividing the number of cases in which the overall system had that form of unacceptability by the number of cases run. Stability robustness can be portrayed graphically using the stochastic root locus and by using histograms of parameter values found in the unacceptable cases