A Model for the Chromosphere/Wind of 31 Cygni and its Implications for Single Stars

I develop a detailed empirical model for the chromosphere and wind of 31 Cyg based on a previously published analysis of IUE spectra from the 1993 eclipse and on the thermodynamics of how the wind must be driven. I then use this model to interpret observations of single supergiant stars and to assess the evidence that their winds are fundamentally different from those of supergiants in the binary systems. This model naturally predicts a certain level of clumping of the gas to balance the pressure that drives the wind. It also predicts that anisotropic turbulence, such as would result from transverse displacements of Alfven waves directed along radial magnetic flux lines, would not give the roughly Gaussian profiles of emission lines seen in cool giant stars. Furthermore, it implies that C II] may not tell us much at all about general conditions in chromospheres. Finally, I speculate that chaotic magnetic fields, in dynamical equilibrium with the gas of the wind, are the actual driving mechanism.Comment: Submitted to A

The economic impact of ocean acidification on Pacific oysters

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, our atmosphere has continued to experience increased levels of CO₂ concentrations and with it, changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. These changes in the carbonate chemistry of seawater, a process known as ocean acidification (OA), threaten some species upon which some economies are largely dependent for economic activity. This thesis uses the best available data to summarize the Washington State shellfish economy and estimate potential impacts of OA on Pacific oyster demand. The analysis evaluates the economic impact of OA on demand using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model approach to estimate short-run and long-run impacts. Although initial research attempted to assess the impacts of OA on Pacific oyster supply, findings from this study suggest that long-run decreases in carbonate chemistry may negatively impact the demand for Pacific oysters. As the waters used to grow Pacific oysters in Washington State continue to degrade as a result of OA, substantial losses in economic activity from Pacific oysters may be lost. On the west coast, oysters appear to be a luxury good with demand highly responsive to changes in income. Pacific oysters are moderately sensitive to price, indicating demand for oysters is elastic

Spurious Eccentricities of Distorted Binary Components

I discuss the effect of physical distortion on the velocities of close binary components and how we may use the resulting distortion of velocity curves to constrain some properties of binary systems, such as inclination and mass ratio. Precise new velocities for 5 Cet convincingly detect these distortions with their theoretically predicted phase dependence. We can even use such distortions of velocity curves to test Lucy's theory of convective gravity darkening. The observed distortions for TT Hya and 5 Cet require the contact components of those systems to be gravity darkened, probably somewhat more than predicted by Lucy's theory but clearly not as much as expected for a radiative star. These results imply there is no credible evidence for eccentric orbits in binaries with contact components. I also present some speculative analyses of the observed properties of a binary encased in a non-rotating common envelope, if such an object could actually exist, and discuss how the limb darkening of some recently calculated model atmospheres for giant stars may bias my resuts for velocity-curve distortions, as well as other results from a wide range of analyses of binary stars.Comment: 14 pp, 2 tables, 12 fig; under review by Ap

Existence Advertising, Price Competition, and Asymmetric Market Structure

We examine a two stage duopoly game in which firms advertise their existence to consumers in stage 1 and compete in prices in stage 2. Whenever the advertising technology generates positive overlap in customer bases the equilib- rium for the stage 1 game is asymmetric in that one firm chooses to remain small in comparison to its competitor. For a specific random advertising technology we show that one firm will always be half as large as the other. No equilibrium in pure price strategies exists in the stage 2 game and as long as there is some overlap in customer bases the mixed strategy equilibrium is far from the Bertrand equilibrium.Existence advertising; price dispersion; Bertrand paradox; information; duopoly

Reverberation time estimation on the ACE corpus using the SDD method

Reverberation Time (T60) is an important measure for characterizing the properties of a room. The author's T60 estimation algorithm was previously tested on simulated data where the noise is artificially added to the speech after convolution with a impulse responses simulated using the image method. We test the algorithm on speech convolved with real recorded impulse responses and noise from the same rooms from the Acoustic Characterization of Environments (ACE) corpus and achieve results comparable results to those using simulated data.Comment: In Proceedings of the ACE Challenge Workshop - a satellite event of IEEE-WASPAA 2015 (arXiv:1510.00383

Punitive Damages and the Processing of Tort Claims

Punitive damages are one of the most controversial aspects of tort litigation and have been the subject of various theoretical, empirical, and experimental studies. One criticism of punitive damages refers to the effect that they have on civil litigation processes. In particular, Polinsky (1997) argues that the uncertainty and unpredictability that punitive damage claims inject into a case may increase both the rate and amount of settlements, thus implying that punitive damages carry systemic consequences for the general processing of tort claims. This paper represents the first, empirical examination of this implication. With one of the largest and most comprehensive data sets of tort litigation (over 25,000 cases filed from 1994 through 1997 in several counties in Georgia), we examine the effect of the decision to seek punitive damages on several major decision points in the tort litigation process in a series of logit regression models. With extensive control variables for type of case, the presence or absence of caps on damages, and other potentially important variables, we find that seeking punitive damages has no statistically significant effect on most phases of the tort litigation process.Torts, Litigation, Punitive Damages, Settlement Rates

Development and Testing of a 2-D Transfer CCD

This paper describes the development, operation, and characterization of charge-coupled devices (CCDs) that feature an electrode structure that allows the transfer of charge both horizontally and vertically through the image area. Such devices have been termed two-dimensional (2-D) transfer CCDs (2DT CCDs), as opposed to the conventional devices, which might be called one-dimensional transfer CCDs, but in other respects are the same as conventional CCD devices. Batches of two different 2DT CCD test devices, featuring different electrode structures but with identical clocking operation in each case, were produced and tested. The methodology of 2-D charge transfer in each of the device types is described, followed by a presentation of test results from the new CCDs. The ability of both 2DT CCD transfer electrode schemes to successfully transfer charge in both horizontal and vertical directions in the image section of the devices has been proven, opening up potential new applications for 2DT CCD use

Report of the Georgia Governor’s Wokers’ Compensation Review Commission

The Commission appointed by Governor Barnes consists of fourteen members, three ex officio members, and seven advisory members. This group includes academics, members of the legislature, claimants attorneys, defense attorneys, representatives from the insurance industry, organized labor, the textile industry, and government agencies. It was charged by the Governor to review and evaluate Georgia’s laws and procedures affecting workers’ compensation. The Commission’s primary goal was to prepare an accurate description of the current workers’ compensation system in Georgia. More specifically, this Report provides detailed information regarding the number of claims, benefits paid to employees, employer costs, and insurance profitability. It also compares workers’ compensation costs and benefits in Georgia with those in other states, particularly our Southeastern neighbors. Our purpose is to determine whether workers’ compensation costs place Georgia employers at a competitive disadvantage in regional and national markets. In preparing this Report, the Commission relied on the most recent available reports and data collected by organizations such as the National Academy of Social Insurance, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, the Workers Compensation Research Institute, the United States Department of Labor, and the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation.Workers' Compemsation, wages, unemployment, disability, indemnity

An adaptive, hanging-node, discontinuous isogeometric analysis method for the first-order form of the neutron transport equation with discrete ordinate (SN) angular discretisation

In this paper a discontinuous, hanging-node, isogeometric analysis (IGA) method is developed and applied to the first-order form of the neutron transport equation with a discrete ordinate (SN) angular discretisation in two-dimensional space. The complexities involved in upwinding across curved element boundaries that contain hanging-nodes have been addressed to ensure that the scheme remains conservative. A robust algorithm for cycle-breaking has also been introduced in order to develop a unique sweep ordering of the elements for each discrete ordinates direction. The convergence rate of the scheme has been verified using the method of manufactured solutions (MMS) with a smooth solution. Heuristic error indicators have been used to drive an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) algorithm to take advantage of the hanging-node discretisation. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated for three test cases. The first is a homogeneous square in a vacuum with varying mean free path and a prescribed extraneous unit source. The second test case is a radiation shielding problem and the third is a 3×3 “supercell” featuring a burnable absorber. In the final test case, comparisons are made to the discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (DGFEM) using both straight-sided and curved quadratic finite elements