Factors Affecting Climate Change Mitigation Policy Implementation

Why do some states have policies that aggressively reduce carbon emissions, while others ignore the threat of climate change? In a world where increasingly extreme weather patterns threaten food production and species extinction, and where rising sea levels and frequent storms damage coastal infrastructure, it is now essential for states to mitigate these effects. My paper analyzes the role of media attention on climate change and environmental association membership rates on the most recent climate change mitigation policies of South Africa, the United States, and Germany. It argues that media and environmental associations influence a population’s desire to reduce carbon emissions, and that these populations are more likely to ask for and see the implementation of climate change mitigation policy in their respective democracies. I also look at the quality and effectiveness of each case’s policy, given the emissions realities in each country

Examining Incoming Credit Differences Between First-Year and Transfer Students

In this study, the difference in the number of initial credits between incoming transfer and first-year students entering a land grant university in a professional education program was examined (N = 488). A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that transfer students transferred significantly more total credits and more credits that counted toward degree programs than did first-year students. Undergraduates who had graduated from small high schools transferred more credits and more credits that counted than did those from large high schools. However, first-year students transferred a significantly higher percentage of total credits that counted toward the degree programs than did transfer students. Implications for advisors, institutions, and policy makers are discussed

Piloting Signs of Safety : A Deaf-Accessible Toolkit for Trauma and Addiction

The Deaf community - a minority group of 500,000 Americans who use American Sign Language (ASL) - experiences trauma and addiction at rates double to the general population. Yet, there are no evidence-based treatments that have been evaluated to treat trauma, addiction, or other behavioral health conditions among Deaf people. Current evidence-based treatments fail to meet the needs of Deaf clients. One example is Seeking Safety, a well-validated therapy for people recovering from trauma and addiction. Seeking Safety includes a therapist guide and client handouts for 25 therapy sessions, each teaching clients a safe coping skill. When Seeking Safety was used with Deaf clients, unique barriers were revealed with regard to the client materials: they were presented in complex English instead of ASL, nor sensitive to Deaf people’s culture, social norms, and history of oppression. To address these barriers, Dr. Anderson assembled a team of Deaf and hearing researchers, clinicians, filmmakers, actors, artists, and Deaf people in recovery to develop Signs of Safety, a Deaf-accessible toolkit to be used with Seeking Safety. Signs of Safety is comprised of a therapist companion guide and population-specific client materials, including visual handouts and ASL teaching stories on digital video, which present key learning points via an “educational soap opera.” Dr. Anderson is currently leading a pilot study of Signs of Safety. Preliminary results show that participants are reporting symptom reduction from baseline to follow-up and high levels of satisfaction with the model, giving us the confidence to further pursue this line of research

Illustrating Stability Properties of Numerical Relativity in Electrodynamics

We show that a reformulation of the ADM equations in general relativity, which has dramatically improved the stability properties of numerical implementations, has a direct analogue in classical electrodynamics. We numerically integrate both the original and the revised versions of Maxwell's equations, and show that their distinct numerical behavior reflects the properties found in linearized general relativity. Our results shed further light on the stability properties of general relativity, illustrate them in a very transparent context, and may provide a useful framework for further improvement of numerical schemes.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, to be published as Brief Report in Physical Review

Assessment of highly distributed power systems using an integrated simulation approach

In a highly distributed power system (HDPS), micro renewable and low carbon technologies would make a significant contribution to the electricity supply. Further, controllable devices such as micro combined heat and power (CHP) could be used to assist in maintaining stability in addition to simply providing heat and power to dwellings. To analyse the behaviour of such a system requires the modelling of both the electrical distribution system and the coupled microgeneration devices in a realistic context. In this paper a pragmatic approach to HDPS modelling is presented: microgeneration devices are simulated using a building simulation tool to generate time-varying power output profiles, which are then replicated and processed statistically so that they can be used as boundary conditions for a load flow simulation; this is used to explore security issues such as under and over voltage, branch thermal overloading, and reverse power flow. Simulations of a section of real network are presented, featuring different penetrations of micro-renewables and micro-CHP within the ranges that are believed to be realistically possible by 2050. This analysis indicates that well-designed suburban networks are likely to be able to accommodate such levels of domestic-scale generation without problems emerging such as overloads or degradation to the quality of supply