The quadratic assignment problem and plant layout

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Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States

Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States provides a “legal playbook” for deep decarbonization in the United States, identifying well over 1,000 legal options for enabling the United States to address one of the greatest problems facing this country and the rest of humanity. The book is based on two reports by the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP) that explain technical and policy pathways for reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. This 80x50 target and similarly aggressive carbon abatement goals are often referred to as deep decarbonization, distinguished because it requires systemic changes to the energy economy. Legal Pathways explains the DDPP reports and then addresses in detail 35 different topics in as many chapters. These 35 chapters cover energy efficiency, conservation, and fuel switching; electricity decarbonization; fuel decarbonization; carbon capture and negative emissions; non-carbon dioxide climate pollutants; and a variety of cross-cutting issues. The legal options involve federal, state, and local law, as well as private governance. Authors were asked to include all options, even if they do not now seem politically realistic or likely, giving Legal Pathways not just immediate value, but also value over time. While both the scale and complexity of deep decarbonization are enormous, this book has a simple message: deep decarbonization is achievable in the United States using laws that exist or could be enacted. These legal tools can be used with significant economic, social, environmental, and national security benefits.https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/books/1000/thumbnail.jp

America\u27s Zero Carbon Action Plan: Federal Legislative and Administrative Framework

This chapter sets out proposed federal laws and policies for America\u27s Zero Carbon Action Plan, a comprehensive report on how to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This chapter sets forth recommendations for all four pillars of deep decarbonization – electricity decarbonization, energy efficiency and conservation, electrification of transportation and buildings, and carbon capture. It is supplemented with recommendations for significant reductions in emissions of non-carbon dioxide pollutants, as well as for changes in foreign policy. Each set of recommendations is accompanied by an explanation of the underlying strategy for the proposed changes

Limiting Family Size Through the Sufficient Provision of Basic Necessities and Social Services: The Case of Pasay, Eastern Samar, and Agusan Del Sur

The socio-economic quandaries of rapid population growth and poverty have always been coupled. It is evident that the poorest households are those who have larger family size. Consequently, these households have to support more people with fewer resources, making the family live a life of inherited poverty. With this, the state has been on the pursuit of looking for solutions such as the Reproductive Heath (RH) Bill to address rapid population growth and eventually poverty. However, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) condemns the RH Bill because it is contradictory to Catholic principles. For this reason, we will explore other possibilities to limit family size by highlighting whether the availability of water, electricity, decent housing, sustainable income, employment, and other welfare enhancing programs limits family size. By showing whether the provision of these basic sustenance affects family size via the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) procedure, it is then possible to propose an alternative solution other than the use of contraceptives. Likewise, the government can improve on its socio-economic policies that will address the problem of overpopulation. Results have shown that Pasay, Eastern Samar, and Agusan Del Sur responded differently to various stimuli such as living conditions, educational attainment, employment status, as well as government-funded programs among others insofar as population dynamics is concerned. This suggests a need to peer into the distinction of each region’s socioeconomic context and underlying psyche. The milieu within which an individual resides may greatly influence his rational calculus and decision-making process. Also, beyond tailoring-fitting population control programs, there is also a need to calibrate policies based on relevant socioeconomic, political, and cultural nuances each region may possess

Surface mechanomyography and electromyography provide non-invasive indices of inspiratory muscle force and activation in healthy subjects

The current gold standard assessment of human inspiratory muscle function involves using invasive measures of transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) or crural diaphragm electromyography (oesEMGdi). Mechanomyography is a non-invasive measure of muscle vibration associated with muscle contraction. Surface electromyogram and mechanomyogram, recorded transcutaneously using sensors placed over the lower intercostal spaces (sEMGlic and sMMGlic respectively), have been proposed to provide non-invasive indices of inspiratory muscle activation, but have not been directly compared to gold standard Pdi and oesEMGdi measures during voluntary respiratory manoeuvres. To validate the non-invasive techniques, the relationships between Pdi and sMMGlic, and between oesEMGdi and sEMGlic were measured simultaneously in 12 healthy subjects during an incremental inspiratory threshold loading protocol. Myographic signals were analysed using fixed sample entropy (fSampEn), which is less influenced by cardiac artefacts than conventional root mean square. Strong correlations were observed between: mean Pdi and mean fSampEn |sMMGlic| (left, 0.76; right, 0.81), the time-integrals of the Pdi and fSampEn |sMMGlic| (left, 0.78; right, 0.83), and mean fSampEn oesEMGdi and mean fSampEn sEMGlic (left, 0.84; right, 0.83). These findings suggest that sMMGlic and sEMGlic could provide useful non-invasive alternatives to Pdi and oesEMGdi for the assessment of inspiratory muscle function in health and disease.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Can the Provision of Social Services Limit Family Size? The Case of Pasay, Eastern Samar, and Agusan Del Sur

Rapid population growth is deemed by economists as one of the root causes of the Philippines’ underdevelopment, economic stagnation, resource depletion, and high crime rate, among others. According to Todaro and Smith (2008), it gives rise to poverty since economic growth cannot outpace and sustain the rate at which population expands

Nested algebraic Bethe ansaetze for orthogonal and symplectic spin chains

In this thesis the nested algebraic Bethe ansatz technique is applied to various orthogonal and symplectic closed and open spin chain models. Each spin chain considered is regarded as a representation of an underlying quantum group algebra, and expressions for eigenvectors of transfer matrices associated to these models are constructed using the algebra relations, reducing the problem to a set of Bethe equations. The specific models considered are the Ol'shanskii twisted Yangian spin chain, where gl_n bulk symmetry is broken to orthogonal or symplectic symmetry; the MacKay twisted Yangian spin chain, an open spin chain with bulk orthogonal or symplectic symmetry and various boundary types; and the q-deformed orthogonal or symplectic closed spin chain. For the first and third cases, a closed 'trace formula' expression for the eigenvector is also provided

Optical and X-ray structures in the REXCESS sample of galaxy clusters

Galaxienhaufen sind die größten und massivstem gravitativ gebundenen Objekte im Universum, die Zeit hatten, zu kollabieren und virialisieren. Das Intracluster-Medium (ICM) innerhalb Galaxienhaufen ist ein Plasma, das durch Röntgenstrahlung sichtbar ist. Galaxien in Galaxienhaufen sind durch optische Strahlung zu sehen, sie sind hauptsächlich rot und haben eine niedrige Sternbildungsrate. Neu akkretierte Galaxien können blauere Farben und eine höhere Sternbildungsrate aufweisen und werden durch Interaktion mit dem ICM röter. Wachstum von Galaxienhaufen findet durch sporadisches Verschmelzen mit anderen Galaxienhaufen und Gruppen statt, oder durch gleichmäßige Akkretion von Galaxien aus dem Milieu. Um die Hauptfrage »ergänzen sich Röntgen- und optische Messungen von Galaxienhaufen, oder zeigen sie dasselbe?« zu beantworten, haben wir eine Studie durchgeführt, bei der die Verteilung von Galaxien und ICM in Galaxienhaufen verglichen wurden. Im Besonderen, haben wir untersucht, ob optische Daten zusätzliche Information wegen der dynamische Befindlichkeit von einzelnen Galaxienhaufen liefern, die nicht aus Röntgendaten allein hervorgehen können. Surveys in Röntgen und optischer Strahlung sind in den nächsten Jahrzehnten zu erwarten, die Daten von viel weiteren Gebieten des Universums liefern werden. Diese Daten können, mit den Methoden, die wir hier vorlegen, untersucht werden. Wir benutzten Weitwinkelbeobachtungen des MPG/ESO 2.2 m Telescopes und Röntgenbeobachtungen von XMM-Newton, um die Distribution von Galaxien innerhalb Galaxienhaufen mit der Distribution des ICM zu vergleichen. Wir haben gefunden, dass die 1D Radialdistribution der roten Galaxien zu der des ICM zusammenpasst, aber die blauen Galaxien folgen einem flacheren Profil. Mit 2D Abbildungen der Galaxienhaufen, haben wir gefunden dass die roten Galaxien sehr ähnlich verteilt sind, wie das ICM, aber fast jeder Galaxienhaufen hat unvirialisierte rote Subklumpen. Blaue Galaxien anderseits haben zu wenig Zeit zum virialisiern bevor sie rot werden, weil sie ihre sternbildendes Gas innerhalb einer Übergangszeit durch ICM-Staudruckstripping verliern. Röntgenbeobachtungen sind besser für die Bestimmung des Verschmelzungsverlaufes von Galaxienhaufen, weil sie die Kennzeichen von Verschmelzung für eine kürzere Zeit zeigen. Wir haben mehrere Subklumpen von roten Galaxien entdeckt, die scheinen auf einfallenden Trajektorien in Galaxienhaufen zu sein und noch merkliche Mengen von Röntgenemittierendem Gas zu haben.Galaxy clusters are the largest and most massive gravitationally bound objects in the Universe which have had time to collapse and virialise. The intra cluster medium (ICM) within clusters is a plasma seen in the X-ray band. Galaxies within clusters are visible in the optical band and are primarily red and have low star formation rates. Newly accreted galaxies may have more star formation and bluer colours, but they become red as galaxies interact with the ICM. Growth of clusters occurs by sporadic mergers with other galaxy groups/clusters, or through smooth accretion of galaxies from clusters' surroundings. In order to answer the key question `Are X-ray and optical measurements of galaxy clusters complementary, or do they show the same things?' we carried out a study comparing the distribution of galaxies and ICM in galaxy clusters. In particular, we investigated whether optical data gave additional information about the dynamical state of individual clusters which could not be recovered from X-ray data alone. Imaging surveys in optical and X-ray which are expected in the coming decades will provide similar data for much larger regions of the Universe which can be analysed using the techniques we investigated. We used wide field optical images from the MPG/ESO 2.2 m telescope and X-ray data from XMM-Newton to investigate the distribution of galaxies within clusters as compared with the ICM. The 1D radial distribution of the red galaxies was found to match the ICM, but the blue galaxies had a much flatter distribution. Using 2D maps of the clusters, we found that the distribution of red galaxies was similar to that of the ICM, but most clusters also contained red galaxy sub-clumps which were unvirialised. The blue galaxies had insufficient time to virialise as they were stripped of their star forming gas by ram pressure stripping by the ICM within their first crossing of the cluster and became red. X-ray observations are better for determining the recent merger history of galaxy clusters because they retain the signatures of mergers for a shorter period of time. We identified several red clumps of galaxies which appeared to be on infall trajectories into the clusters, and which still retained significant amounts of X-ray emitting gas