The Lost Light of Liberty

The Lost Light of Liberty is a project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Liberal Studies and written by Justin Cole

Fueling Ukraine’s Future: Using Microfinance as a Tool for Reducing Energy Dependency and Changing Lives

Ukraine is a country heavily dependent on other countries for its natural gas supply, leaving it vulnerable to interruptions in supply. One of its largest suppliers, Russia, has twice taken drastic means of physically closing the pipelines, thereby cutting off this supply and illustrating to Ukraine and the world the leverage that it can exercise. While at the present time the cut-offs have lasted no longer than a few weeks, future cut-offs could become more common and longer in duration. When compounded with the troubled history between the two countries, one can quickly see the precipitous situation that has the potential to escalate into armed conflict. The methodology used in this thesis sought to identify a renewable energy technology that could help reduce this dependency on foreign energy. The technology must be feasible considering the climate, viable considering the cost, and efficient in the production of an alternative fuel source. Biogas plants (anaerobic digestion) were identified as satisfying all three of these conditions. These plants can use as an input any biodegradable material, but corn silage was quickly identified as the optimal input due to its low cost and high biogas yield. Rural farmers were then identified as the optimal target population for these digesters, due to their ownership of a large amount of land and having the existing infrastructure in place to produce corn silage. The annual natural gas demand of the rural farmers was found to be 4,200 cubic meters, which was used in the calculation of the size of the actual digester that would produce this exact amount of gas annually. The size of the digester was determined to be 9 cubic meters. A financial analysis of the biogas plants then proved that this technology produced a large amount of natural gas equivalent, and also provided financial profits to those who constructed them. However, a problem soon arose. How could rural farmers be expected to afford the lump sum payment necessary for the construction of the digester? A microfinance institution was then theorized that would provide the upfront capital to construct these plants, who would then lease these plants to rural farmers. These rural farmers would repay the lease over a five year term and would benefit from the opportunity cost from synthesizing their own fuel. A financial analysis of the borrower and the institution determined that both parties would benefit financially from the institution, with borrowers experiencing profits in year 1 and the institution achieving self-sufficiency in year 7. The final section reports the impacts and final results that this institution could potentially have on the country of Ukraine. First, it evaluates the amount of carbon dioxide offsets generated by these digesters. Second, it values these carbon offsets by using the market price of Emission Reduction Units (ERUs) to identify a potential funding opportunity for the institution. Finally, it measures the total amount of natural gas that all digesters in operation would generate and its impact on Ukraine’s importation of natural gas from foreign countries

Audit Committee Reputation Incentives

The demand for qualified directors to serve in audit committee chair and designated financial expert positions has grown in recent years, increasing the number of these directors that serve on multiple audit committees. Past research has examined the effect of these directors holding multiple audit committee seats on audit committee effectiveness, but no studies to date have examined how these directors allocate their monitoring effort across their multiple audit committee seats. Using a sample of audit committee chairs and financial experts that serve on multiple audit committees from 2004-2014, I examine whether the reputation incentives for these directors are associated with audit committee effectiveness at the firms they serve. Reputation incentives theory suggests that these directors will allocate more monitoring effort to the firms in their portfolio that offer them a greater opportunity to enhance their reputation as a monitor (higher reputation incentives). Consistent with this theory, I find that audit committee effectiveness is higher at firms that offer these directors high reputation incentives as compared to firms that do not. My results suggest that these directors exert varying levels of monitoring effort based on the relative importance of any one audit committee to their portfolio of audit committees. My findings should be of interest to boards, investors, and regulators considering the implications of service on multiple audit committees

Improvements in Microdialysis Sampling Extraction Efficiency Using Recycled Flow

Incomplete recovery during microdialysis sampling is hindering important research in neurology, proteomics, and immunology. Although the current generalized solution, decreasing volumetric flow rates (Q), has been and will remain to be a useful strategy it has reached it\u27s a physical limitation due to evaporation at the collection site. Consequently, many important signaling molecules, such as signaling proteins, remain difficult to study. It is more fundamental to consider relative recovery as a function of the interaction time between the perfusate and the environment surrounding the probe. In this work an increase in relative recovery was predicted by a mathematical model. Using recycled flow and flow reversal an increase in extraction efficiency was achieved at constant Q. It was observed that the recovery increase decrease as the number of passes increase

Improvements in Microdialysis Sampling Extraction Efficiency Using Recycled Flow

Incomplete recovery during microdialysis sampling is hindering important research in neurology, proteomics, and immunology. Although the current generalized solution, decreasing volumetric flow rates (Q), has been and will remain to be a useful strategy it has reached it\u27s a physical limitation due to evaporation at the collection site. Consequently, many important signaling molecules, such as signaling proteins, remain difficult to study. It is more fundamental to consider relative recovery as a function of the interaction time between the perfusate and the environment surrounding the probe. In this work an increase in relative recovery was predicted by a mathematical model. Using recycled flow and flow reversal an increase in extraction efficiency was achieved at constant Q. It was observed that the recovery increase decrease as the number of passes increase

Mental Toughness, Grit, and Motivational Differences in Single-sport and Multi-sport Athletes

Whether it is at work, school or sports, mental toughness (MT), grit and motivation are essential to accomplishing goals. Sports can be an integral platform for developing MT, grit, and factors that increase motivation levels, and it is during childhood and adolescence that these characteristics may develop. All of this could prove beneficial into adulthood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine MT, grit and motivational orientations of single-sport and multi-sport athletes at different levels of competition. Considering MT, a 2 x 2 ANOVA indicated no significant interaction effect between athlete type and competition level, F(1, 387) = .06, p = .812, partial η2 \u3c .001, but significant main effects for athlete type, F(1, 387) = 4.87, p = .028, partial η2 = .012, and competition level, F(1, 387) = 17.33, p \u3c .001, partial η2 = .043. Furthermore, regarding grit, a 2 x 2 ANOVA indicated no significant interaction effect between athlete type and competition level, F(1, 382) = .32, p = .571, partial η2 = .001, and no significance for the athlete type main effect, F(1, 382) = 1.22, p = .270, partial η2 = .003. However, a significant main effect was found for competition level, F(1, 382) = 5.42, p = .020, partial η2 = .014. As for motivation, a 2 x 2 ANOVA indicated a significant interaction effect between athlete type and competition level F(1, 373) = 4.11, p = .043, partial η2 = .011 and a significant main effect for competition level F(1, 373) = 9.50, p = .002, partial η2 = .025. However, there was no significant finding for the type of athlete, F(1, 373) = .76, p = .385, partial η2 = .002. Examining the simple main effects for competition level, it was discovered that single-sport athletes only achieving high school level playing experience scored significantly lower than single-sport high school athletes that went on to play collegiately, F(1, 373) = 13.61, p \u3c .001. Moreover, multi-sport high school athletes scored significantly higher than single-sport high school athletes, F(1, 373) = 5.42, p = .020

Mapping Coastal Wetland Change Based on Lake Level Fluctuation on Lake Ontario

Using an integrated digital elevation and bathymetry model of Lake Ontario and historic lake level data from 1860 to present, coastal areas of periodic inundation were identified to generate, by association, an estimate of coastal wetland change due to lake level control. Pre and post Robert Morris Dam models were constructed to help determine the reduction of lake surface area when the dam started to control the extreme highs and lows. The model creates annual high and low lake surface coverages. The goal of this study is to create a baseline analysis and methodology for future studies on wetland change on Lake Ontario. Results of this study indicate an average change in lake surface area of 123 square kilometers between pre and post dam periods, based on 148 annual calculations of the high and low water levels for each year. Lake levels are generally stabilized after the dam installation, with considerably less fluctuation at the lowest lake levels, compared to pre dam fluctuations. Spatial results were limited by the currently available 3-second (90m) per pixel resolution of the combined bathymetry and elevation data, which renders general results that mask shoreline details and seem to over estimate inundation. As higher resolution data become available in the next few years, such as LiDAR and SONAR, the methodology of the model should be adaptable, resulting in more accurate models for predicting areas of inundation, exposure, and potential wetland change due to alterations of historic lake level variability

The mass distribution of the Fornax dSph: constraints from its globular cluster distribution

Uniquely among the dwarf spheroidal (dSph) satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, Fornax hosts globular clusters. It remains a puzzle as to why dynamical friction has not yet dragged any of Fornax's five globular clusters to the centre, and also why there is no evidence that any similar star cluster has been in the past (for Fornax or any other dSph). We set up a suite of 2800 N-body simulations that sample the full range of globular-cluster orbits and mass models consistent with all existing observational constraints for Fornax. In agreement with previous work, we find that if Fornax has a large dark-matter core then its globular clusters remain close to their currently observed locations for long times. Furthermore, we find previously unreported behaviour for clusters that start inside the core region. These are pushed out of the core and gain orbital energy, a process we call 'dynamical buoyancy'. Thus a cored mass distribution in Fornax will naturally lead to a shell-like globular cluster distribution near the core radius, independent of the initial conditions. By contrast, CDM-type cusped mass distributions lead to the rapid infall of at least one cluster within \Delta t = 1-2Gyr, except when picking unlikely initial conditions for the cluster orbits (\sim 2% probability), and almost all clusters within \Delta t = 10Gyr. Alternatively, if Fornax has only a weakly cusped mass distribution, dynamical friction is much reduced. While over \Delta t = 10Gyr this still leads to the infall of 1-4 clusters from their present orbits, the infall of any cluster within \Delta t = 1-2Gyr is much less likely (with probability 0-70%, depending on \Delta t and the strength of the cusp). Such a solution to the timing problem requires that in the past the globular clusters were somewhat further from Fornax than today; they most likely did not form within Fornax, but were accreted.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, submitted to MNRA