The Influence of Rebate Programs on the Demand for Water Heaters: The Case of New South Wales

In the past decade the Australian Federal government and state governments have established a wide range of programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors. This paper examines the role of hot water system rebate programs in shifting the existing stock of electric water heaters toward more climate friendly versions using two unique data sets from New South Wales homeowners. The first data set is based on a survey of households who recently purchased a water heater and exploits a natural experiment created by the rebate program to quantify its effects. The other data set is based on a set of stated preference questions asked of households who own an older water heater and will in the reasonably near future face a replacement decision. We find that recent rebate programs significantly increased the share of solar/heat pump systems. For households without access to natural gas, this increased share comes directly from inefficient electric water heaters. For households with access to natural gas, older existing electric water heaters would likely have been replaced with gas water heaters in the absence of the rebate programs. The rebate program appears to be much less effective when water heaters are replaced on an emergency basis. Data from discrete choice experiments was analysed using several flexible choice models. A newly proposed model that combines a latent class approach with a random coefficients approach clearly dominates the other models in terms of statistical fit. Predictions based on this model estimate are reasonably consistent with actual purchase data. Results from it point to considerable heterogeneity with respect to household preferences toward different types of water heaters and with respect to the discount rates they hold.Climate change mitigation, Energy conservation programs, Natural experiments, Discrete choice experiments, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Evidence for somatic selection of natural autoantibodies.

Natural autoantibodies are primarily immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies that bind to a variety of self-antigens, including self-IgG. Accounting for a large proportion of the early B cell repertoire, such polyspecific autoantibodies are speculated to contribute to the homeostasis and/or competence of the primary humoral immune system. Recent studies indicate that the leukemia cells from most patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) also express such IgM autoantibodies. Similarly, the leukemia cells from many CLL patients react with murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for crossreactive idiotypes (CRIs) associated with human IgM autoantibodies. In particular, leukemic cells frequently react with G6, a mAb specific for an Ig heavy chain (H chain)-associated CRI, and/or with 17.109, a mAb that defines a kappa light chain (L chain)-associated CRI. Generated against IgM rheumatoid factor (RF) paraproteins, G6 and 17.109 each recognize a major CRI that is present in many IgM RF paraproteins. Furthermore, over 90% of the IgM paraproteins found to bear both H and L chain-associated CRIs also are found to have RF activity. Molecular characterization of these CRIs demonstrates that each is a serologic marker for expression of a highly conserved Ig V gene. As such, the frequent production of IgM polyspecific autoantibodies in CLL simply may reflect the frequent use of such highly conserved autoantibody-encoding Ig V genes with little or no somatic mutation. To test this hypothesis, we generated murine transfectomas to pair the 17.109-reactive kappa L chain of SMI, a 17.109/G6-reactive CLL population, with the Ig H chain of SMI or other G6-reactive leukemia cells or tonsillar lymphocytes. Cotransfection of vectors encoding the Ig H and L chains of SMI generated transfectomas that produce IgM kappa RF autoantibodies reactive with human IgG1 and IgG4. In contrast to G6/17.109-reactive IgM kappa RF Waldenstrom's paraproteins, the SMI IgM kappa also reacts with several other self-antigens, including myoglobin, actin, and ssDNA. However, cotransfection of the SMI L chain with a vector encoding any one of 10 different G6-reactive Ig H chains generated transfectomas that produce IgM kappa antibodies without detectable polyspecific autoantibody activity. These results indicate that polyspecific antiself-reactivity of G6/17.019-reactive Ig is dependent on the somatically generated Ig third complementarity determining region. Collectively, these studies imply that selection may be responsible for the frequent expression of polyspecific autoantibodies in CLL and early B cell ontogeny

Investigation of semiconductor clad optical waveguides

A variety of techniques have been proposed for fabricating integrated optical devices using semiconductors, lithium niobate, and glasses as waveguides and substrates. The use of glass waveguides and their interaction with thin semiconductor cladding layers was studied. Though the interactions of these multilayer waveguide structures have been analyzed here using glass, they may be applicable to other types of materials as well. The primary reason for using glass is that it provides a simple, inexpensive way to construct waveguides and devices

A closed-form solution for noise contours

An analytical approach for generating noise contours that overcome the difficulties of existing programs is described. This approach is valid for arbitrarily complex paths and reveals the importance of various factors that influence contour shape and size. The calculations are simple enough to be implemented on a small, hand-held programmable calculator, and a program for the HP-67 calculator is illustrated. The method is fast, simple, and gives the area, the contour, and its extremities for arbitrary flight paths for both takeoffs and landings

Optimal guidance and control for investigating aircraft noise-impact reduction

A methodology for investigating the reduction of community noise impact is reported. This report is concerned with the development of two models to provide data: a guidance generator and an aircraft control generator suitable for various current and advanced types of aircraft. The guidance generator produces the commanded path information from inputs chosen by an operator from a graphic scope display of a land-use map of the terminal area. The guidance generator also produces smoothing at the junctions of straight-line paths.The aircraft control generator determines the optimal set of the available controls such that the aircraft will follow the commanded path. The solutions for the control functions are given and shown to be dependent on the class of aircraft to be considered, that is, whether the thrust vector is rotatable and whether the thrust vector affects the aerodynamic forces. For the class of aircraft possessing a rotatable thrust vector, the solution is redundant; this redundancy is removed by the additional condition that the noise inpact be minimized. Information from both the guidance generator and the aircraft control generator is used by the footprint program to construct the noise footprint

Static internal performance of ventral and rear nozzle concepts for short-takeoff and vertical-landing aircraft

The internal performance of two exhaust system concepts applicable to single-engine short-take-off and vertical-landing tactical fighter configurations was investigated. These concepts involved blocking (or partially blocking) tailpipe flow to the rear (cruise) nozzle and diverting it through an opening to a ventral nozzle exit for vertical thrust. A set of variable angle vanes at the ventral nozzle exit were used to vary ventral nozzle thrust angle between 45 and 110 deg relative to the positive axial force direction. In the vertical flight mode the rear nozzle (or tailpipe flow to it) was completely blocked. In the transition flight mode flow in the tailpipe was split between the rear and ventral nozzles and the flow was vectored at both exits for aircraft control purposes through this flight regime. In the cruise flight mode the ventral nozzle was sealed and all flow exited through the rear nozzle