62406 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 174 / Monday, September 11, 2023 / Notices 

source, there are a few potential sources 

of error. Processing error is one source 

of nonsampling error that is introduced 

with the use of the administrative trade 

data. Among the transaction records 

processed by the Census Bureau, some 

records have incomplete data and are 

not used in BLS calculations. 

Additionally, there is measurement 

error in assuming that the 

characteristics that make up a product 

variety adequately explain the monthto-month price change movements. 

Furthermore, other records are analyzed 

and excluded from calculation because 

they are at the tails of the distribution 

of prices or quantities and are excluded 

in order to reduce the variability of unit 

prices and unit value indexes. The 

exclusion of transactions with missing 

data and estimates at the tails of the 

distribution may result in bias or a 

skewed result if there is a repeatable 

pattern in either set of data, such that 

certain companies have more 

transactions with missing data or with 

widely variable prices. These 

nonsampling errors cannot be measured 

with current methods and there is little 

actual research on this topic for 

administrative data that represents the 

full population; however, research has 

begun and is ongoing to evaluate 

sources of error. This research includes 

methods to adequately explain mean 

square error for index estimates that are 

constructed from the integration of 

administrative data and sampled survey 

data. 

Publication of official MXPI. Current 

publication procedures for price indexes 

require an annual review of statistical 

robustness that include sample 

representativeness and that assure the 

protection of respondent and company 

identifiable information. Revised 

publication procedures for price indexes 

calculated with administrative trade 

data will be put in place. Current 

procedures limit publication of indexes 

that represent commodity areas with a 

minimum dollar value of annual import 

or export trade value. New procedures 

for administrative trade data will not 

require a minimum dollar value for 

publication. Protection of respondent 

and company identifiable information 

will remain in place and thus not all 

price indexes using administrative trade 

data will be published separately. 

Modified publication procedures are 

in place to evaluate the price indexes 

selected for inclusion in the aggregation. 

Up to the date of publication, a research 

data series using the new methods will 

be calculated to compare monthly and 

long-term variability and skewness 

relative to the official price indexes 

using current methods to assure quality 

and consistency before incorporating 

the administrative trade data in the 

official data release. When a detailed 

product area is either under-represented 

in the sample or difficult to collect, a 

price index representing commodity 

areas with smaller dollar values may use 

administrative trade data. This approach 

increases efficiency and mitigates 

respondent burden, even if some bias 

exists, as long as the bias does not have 

an impact on the upper-level indexes. 

Publication. Another important 

improvement is that the methods allow 

for an expansion of the number of 

publishable price indexes. The 

enhanced procedure will convert 

roughly 7 million transaction records for 

homogeneous product areas into 

hundreds of thousands of product 

varieties, which subsequently will be 

used to calculate thousands of unit 

value indexes for 10-digit HS product 

categories. These unit value indexes are 

integrated as item prices into the 

calculation of the MXPI. There is no 

change to the method of calculating the 

monthly estimates of price indexes. 

When the transition to using the 

administrative trade data occurs, the 

price indexes currently published will 

not have a break in series. Under current 

procedures, new items brought into the 

price indexes replace discontinued 

items. With the introduction of the 

administrative trade data source, new 

items based on the administrative trade 

data will be brought in to completely 

replace directly collected survey data 

within classification groups that have 

been determined to meet criteria of 

homogeneity. Whether a published 

price index includes administrative 

trade data will be determined by the 

concordance between HS classification 

groups and each product and industry 

classification. The new approach treats 

directly collected and administrative 

data equally, and no distinction will be 

made in publication of the data source. 

The transition to using administrative 

trade data in the official news release 

will be announced in advance. 

This detailed description of the 

current and redesign approaches 

complements the research data series 

that are available at the BLS MXPI 

website http://www.bls.gov/mxp/ 

home.htm. 

IV. Desired Focus of Comments 

This notice is a general solicitation of 

comments from the public on the 

technical approach to this major change 

in the concepts, sources, and methods of 

the Import and Export Price Indexes. 

Signed at Washington, DC, this 5th day of 

September 2023. 

Eric Molina, 

Acting Chief, Division of Management 

Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19486 Filed 9–8–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–24–P 

NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE 

ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES 

National Endowment for the 

Humanities 

Meeting of Humanities Panel 

AGENCY: National Endowment for the 

Humanities; National Foundation on the 

Arts and the Humanities. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The National Endowment for 

the Humanities (NEH) will hold 

seventeen meetings, by 

videoconference, of the Humanities 

Panel, a federal advisory committee, 

during October 2023. The purpose of the 

meetings is for panel review, discussion, 

evaluation, and recommendation of 

applications for financial assistance 

under the National Foundation on the 

Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965. 

DATES: See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

for meeting dates. The meetings will 

open at 8:30 a.m. and will adjourn by 

5:00 p.m. on the dates specified below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Elizabeth Voyatzis, Committee 

Management Officer, 400 7th Street SW, 

Room 4060, Washington, DC 20506; 

(202) 606–8322; evoyatzis@neh.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to section 10(a)(2) of the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 10), 

notice is hereby given of the following 

meetings: 

1. Date: October 4, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topic of U.S. 

History, for the Humanities Collections 

and Reference Resources grant program, 

submitted to the Division of 

Preservation and Access. 

2. Date: October 11, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topics of Film and 

Media Studies, for the Humanities 

Collections and Reference Resources 

grant program, submitted to the Division 

of Preservation and Access. 

3. Date: October 12, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topics of Literary 

and Cultural Studies, for the Humanities 

Collections and Reference Resources 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 174 / Monday, September 11, 2023 / Notices 62407 

grant program, submitted to the Division 

of Preservation and Access. 

4. Date: October 17, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topic of Art History, 

for the Humanities Collections and 

Reference Resources grant program, 

submitted to the Division of 

Preservation and Access. 

5. Date: October 17, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topic of U.S. 

History, for the Public Humanities 

Projects: Exhibitions (Implementation) 

grant program, submitted to the Division 

of Public Programs. 

6. Date: October 18, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topic of American 

Studies, for the Media Projects: 

Production Grants program, submitted 

to the Division of Public Programs. 

7. Date: October 19, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topics of Arts and 

Culture, for the Media Projects: 

Production Grants program, submitted 

to the Division of Public Programs. 

8. Date: October 19, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topics of Music and 

Performing Arts, for the Humanities 

Collections and Reference Resources 

grant program, submitted to the Division 

of Preservation and Access. 

9. Date: October 20, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topics of History of 

Science, Industry, and Environment, for 

the Humanities Collections and 

Reference Resources grant program, 

submitted to the Division of 

Preservation and Access. 

10. Date: October 20, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topics of Art and 

Culture, for the Public Humanities 

Projects: Exhibitions (Implementation) 

grant program, submitted to the Division 

of Public Programs. 

11. Date: October 24, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topic of Indigenous 

Studies, for the Public Humanities 

Projects: Exhibitions (Implementation) 

grant program, submitted to the Division 

of Public Programs. 

12. Date: October 24, 2023 

This video meeting—the first of two 

on this date—will discuss applications 

on the topic of U.S. History, for the 

Humanities Collections and Reference 

Resources grant program, submitted to 

the Division of Preservation and Access. 

13. Date: October 24, 2023 

This video meeting—the second of 

two on this date—will discuss 

applications on the topic of U.S. 

History, for the Humanities Collections 

and Reference Resources grant program, 

submitted to the Division of 

Preservation and Access. 

14. Date: October 25, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topic of American 

Studies, for the Media Projects: 

Production Grants program, submitted 

to the Division of Public Programs. 

15. Date: October 26, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topic of U.S. 

History, for the Humanities Collections 

and Reference Resources grant program, 

submitted to the Division of 

Preservation and Access. 

16. Date: October 27, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topics of Arts and 

Culture, for the Media Projects: 

Production Grants program, submitted 

to the Division of Public Programs. 

17. Date: October 31, 2023 

This video meeting will discuss 

applications on the topic of American 

Studies, for the Media Projects: 

Production Grants program, submitted 

to the Division of Public Programs. 

Because these meetings will include 

review of personal and/or proprietary 

financial and commercial information 

given in confidence to the agency by 

grant applicants, the meetings will be 

closed to the public pursuant to sections 

552b(c)(4) and 552b(c)(6) of title 5, 

U.S.C., as amended. I have made this 

determination pursuant to the authority 

granted me by the Chair’s Delegation of 

Authority to Close Advisory Committee 

Meetings dated April 15, 2016. 

Dated: September 6, 2023. 

Jessica Graves, 

Legal Administrative Specialist, National 

Endowment for the Humanities. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19524 Filed 9–8–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7536–01–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Notice of Permit Applications Received 

Under the Antarctic Conservation Act 

of 1978 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation. 

ACTION: Notice of permit applications 

received. 

SUMMARY: The National Science 

Foundation (NSF) is required to publish 

a notice of permit applications received 

to conduct activities regulated under the 

Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. 

NSF has published regulations under 

the Antarctic Conservation Act in the 

Code of Federal Regulations. This is the 

required notice of permit applications 

received. 

DATES: Interested parties are invited to 

submit written data, comments, or 

views with respect to this permit 

application by October 11, 2023. This 

application may be inspected by 

interested parties at the Permit Office, 

address below. 

ADDRESSES: Comments should be 

addressed to Permit Office, Office of 

Polar Programs, National Science 

Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, 

Alexandria, Virginia 22314 or 

ACApermits@nsf.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Andrew Titmus, ACA Permit Officer, at 

the above address, 703–292–4479. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

National Science Foundation, as 

directed by the Antarctic Conservation 

Act of 1978 (Public Law 95–541, 45 CFR 

671), as amended by the Antarctic 

Science, Tourism and Conservation Act 

of 1996, has developed regulations for 

the establishment of a permit system for 

various activities in Antarctica and 

designation of certain animals and 

certain geographic areas as requiring 

special protection. The regulations 

establish such a permit system to 

designate Antarctic Specially Protected 

Areas. 

Application Details 

Permit Application: 2024–007 

1. Applicant Logan Pallin, Institute of 

Marine Sciences and Ocean Sciences, 

115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 

95060 

Activity for Which Permit Is Requested 

Take, Enter Antarctic Specially 

Protected Areas (ASPAs), and Import 

into USA. The permit applicant requests 

a permit to collect and import samples 

of cetaceans and pinnipeds, for the 

purpose of scientific research in the 

Antarctic Peninsula region. The 

collection of marine mammal parts, 

DNA, and hormones are required for 

population demographic analyses. The 

applicant requests opportunistic 

collection, import, and receipt of 

samples from up to 2,000 individual 

cetaceans and 2,000 individual 

pinnipeds (excluding walrus) annually. 


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