Linkage of Tradable Permit Systems in International Climate Policy Architecture

Cap-and-trade systems have emerged as the preferred national and regional instrument for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases throughout the industrialized world, and the Clean Development Mechanism — an international emission-reduction-credit system — has developed a substantial constituency, despite some concerns about its performance. Because linkage between tradable permit systems can reduce compliance costs and improve market liquidity, there is great interest in linking cap-and-trade systems to each other, as well as to the CDM and other credit systems. We examine the benefits and concerns associated with various types of linkages, and analyze the near-term and long-term role that linkage may play in a future international climate policy architecture. In particular, we evaluate linkage in three potential roles: as an independent bottom-up architecture, as a step in the evolution of a top-down architecture, and as an ongoing element of a larger climate policy agreement. We also assess how the policy elements of climate negotiations can facilitate or impede linkages. Our analysis throughout is both positive and normative.Linkage, Cap-and-Trade, Tradable Permits, Global Climate Change

Hydration of Humic Substances

Tato dizertační práce studuje charakter hydratační vody v systému voda/huminová látka. Úkolem je určit jak kvantitativní, tak i kvalitativní aspekty hydratace huminových látek (HS) v pevné i kapalné fázi a prozkoumat rozdíly ve vlastnostech vody obklopující huminovou látku s použitím vysokorozlišovací ultrazvukové spektroskopie (HRUS) a metod termické analýzy, jako je diferenční kompenzační kalorimetrie (DSC) a termogravimetrie (TGA). Hlavním cílem této práce je přispět k objasnění problému hydratace huminových látek pocházejících z různých zdrojů a majících proto odlišné vlastnosti a složení, a to s využitím postupů a technik, které se již dříve osvědčily při stanovení hydratační vody v hydrofilních polymerech. Tato práce zkoumá účinek vody na strukturu huminových látek, způsob, jakým voda smáčí jejich povrch a jak jimi proniká, způsobuje změny v konformaci HS, jejich retenční kapacitu a také vliv původu jednotlivých huminových látek na jejich hydratační vlastnosti s ohledem na kineticku těchto procesů. Dále studuje vliv stupně humifikace na hydratační procesy huminových látek, stejně jako reverzibilitu těchto procesů. Výsledky této práce objasňují paralelu s vlastnostmi hydrogelů a podobnosti i odlišnosti mezi biopolymery a huminovými látkami.This doctoral thesis studies the character of hydration water in water/humic substances system. The goal is to determine both quantitative and qualitative aspects of hydration of humic substances (HS) in solid and liquid phase and to explore the differences in properties of water surrounding humic matter with the assistance of high resolution ultrasonic spectroscopy (HRUS) and methods of thermal analysis such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TGA). The main aim of this work is to contribute to the knowledge about hydration of humic samples originating from different sources and thus having different properties and composition applying the approaches and techniques already used and reported as being successful for determination and enumeration of hydration water in hydrophilic biopolymers and hydrogels. This thesis investigates the effect of water on humic structure, its way of wetting and penetrating the surface of HS, the possible conformational changes, the retention capacity of HS, and also the influence of origin of individual humic substance on hydration properties with regard to the kinetic of those processes. Moreover, it tries to recognize the influence of degree of humification on hydration processes of humic substances as well as reversibility of these processes. The results of this thesis reveal same parallelism with the properties of non-reversible hydrogels; some similarities between biopolymers and HS were discovered as well.

Close Reading with Computers

Rather than working at the usual scales of distant reading, this book shows what happens when we bring techniques from the digital humanities to bear on a single novel for close readings

Close Reading with Computers: Textual Scholarship, Computational Formalism, and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas

This book is the first full-length monograph to bring a range of computational methods to bear in a sustained fashion, on a single novel, at the micro-level. While most contemporary digital studies are interested in distant-reading paradigms for large-scale literary history – using their digital methods as a telescope – following calls by Alan Liu and Tanya E. Clement, Close Reading with Computers instead asks what happens when such techniques function as a microscope

Malaysian folktale classification system and digitization

Folktale as one of Malaysia’s intangible cultural heritage is gradually forgotten. Therefore, actions toward its preservation are necessary. Before the preservation effort can be implemented, UNESCO clearly underlined two early actions which are identification and conservation. One of the identification actions is the development of a systematic classification system and for the conservation, a storage and archive that keeps the cultural heritage in a centralized and accessible form. Both of these efforts ensure the preservation is employed systematically. However, in the context of Malaysia, both of these actions are still not implemented in the systematic preservation effort of the folktales. Based on the research gap, the research questions of this study query whether the conceptual model can be constructed to guide the classification system development, the Malaysian Folktale Classification System (MFCS) can be developed based on the integration of three important folktale units (function, motif, and type), and the Malaysian folktales can be archived digitally according to the MFCS developed. From the gap and the research questions, this study aims to systematically preserve the Malaysian folktales through the identification and the conservation efforts. As an effort to answer the research questions, the study’s objectives are to construct the conceptual model to guide the development of the MFCS, to collect and classify the literary Malaysian folktales (identification effort), to design and develop the Malaysian Folktale Digital Inventory (MFDI) prototype based on the MFCS (conservation effort), and to validate the MFDI prototype from the expert users’ judgment. The respective methods to achieve each of the research objectives are the pictorial representation, the simulation, the structural-semantic analysis, the database design, and the expert judgment. As for the findings of the study, the conceptual model is constructed and positively verified to represent the classification process visually. Guided by the conceptual model, the MFCS is successfully developed for the Malaysian folktales through the integration of the function, motif, and type units. The MFDI prototype is successfully designed and developed based on the MFCS. As for the validation of the MFDI prototype, the expert users’ perceptions and feedbacks are obtained, and they are positive at large, commenting the need of the MFDI prototype and also the MFCS for the country and the culture. Regarding the contributions of the study, the MFCS and the structural-semantic analysis method are the knowledge contributions, and the MFDI prototype is the practical contribution. The MFCS of the study is one-half of the systematic preservation effort of Malaysian folktales. The structural-semantic analysis method ensures the classification is conducted on the structure and the content of the folktales which makes the classification robust and holistic. The MFDI prototype is the other half of the systematic preservation effort, and it stores digitized folktales systematically. With the achievement of all the findings, the systematic preservation effort of the Malaysian folktale via classification and digitization is achieved

Close Reading with Computers

Rather than working at the usual scales of distant reading, this book shows what happens when we bring techniques from the digital humanities to bear on a single novel for close readings

Montanan, Fall 2010

This is the magazine of the University of Montana with news about the University for UM alumni as well as current faculty, students, staff, and administrators. This is volume 27, number 3.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/montanan/1166/thumbnail.jp