On the Economics of Climate Change and its Effects

This thesis consists of three separate papers; two examining the costs of climate change policy in developing economies and one studying the economic impacts of flooding. In Chapter 2, I use a 2-sector non-balanced growth model to study the impact of structural change (the transition from industry to services) on carbon intensity. I calibrate the model to China and find that structural change plays an important role in reducing carbon intensity and lowering the economic cost of a carbon tax on GDP. For a 65% reduction target over 30 years, a $28/t carbon tax is needed and the output loss is 5.3$45/t tax is needed and 9.1% of GDP is lost. Rough calibrations to other developing countries show that structural composition matters as those with smaller service sectors can make emissions intensity reductions at lower cost. In Chapter 3, we use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to study how a local economy responds to a flood and the subsequent recovery/reconstruction. Initial damage is modelled as a shock to the capital stock and recovery requires rebuilding that stock. We apply the model to Metro Vancouver by considering a flood scenario causing total capital damage of $14.6 billion spread across five municipalities. Transportation and Warehousing are most severely impacted, followed by Manufacturing and Wholesale Trade. Construction and Manufacturing play significant roles in the recovery. We find that the GDP loss relative to a scenario with no flood is 1.9$2.07B) in the first year after the flood, 1.7% ($1.97B) in the second year, 1.5$1.70B) in the fifth year and 1.1% ($1.42B) in the twentieth year. In Chapter 4, I study how the composition of the energy sector and energy efficiency affect the cost of reducing carbon emissions. I show in the data that developing countries tend to be less energy efficient and have dirtier fuel mixes. I use an energy-economy model to study how GDP is affected by lowering emissions via a carbon tax. I find that developing countries face a larger decline in GDP from a carbon tax for an equivalent reduction in emissions, especially countries with a high dependence on coal. For example, China\u27s level of GDP is reduced by 6.7% in the long-run compared to less than 1% for all developed countries (for a 50% reduction in emissions). This is compounded by larger decreases in the growth rate in the short run for developing countries. Developing countries that have relatively low energy intensities and clean fuel mixes, like Brazil and Mexico, face considerably lower losses

Inotersen preserves or improves quality of life in hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis

Objective: To examine the impact on quality of life (QOL) of patients with hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy treated with inotersen (Tegsedi™) versus placebo. Methods: Data were from the NEURO-TTR trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01737398), a phase 3, multinational, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of inotersen in patients with hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy. At baseline and week 66, QOL measures-the Norfolk-QOL-Diabetic Neuropathy (DN) questionnaire and SF-36v2® Health Survey (SF-36v2)-were assessed. Treatment differences in mean changes in QOL from baseline to week 66 were tested using mixed-effect models with repeated measures. Responder analyses compared the percentages of patients whose QOL meaningfully improved or worsened from baseline to week 66 in inotersen and placebo arms. Descriptive analysis of item responses examined treatment differences in specific activities and functions at week 66. Results: Statistically significant mean differences between treatment arms were observed for three of five Norfolk-QOL-DN domains and five of eight SF-36v2 domains, with better outcomes for inotersen than placebo in physical functioning, activities of daily living, neuropathic symptoms, pain, role limitations due to health problems, and social functioning. A larger percentage of patients in the inotersen arm than the placebo arm showed preservation or improvement in Norfolk-QOL-DN and SF-36v2 scores from baseline to week 66. Responses at week 66 showed more substantial problems with daily activities and functioning for patients in the placebo arm than in the inotersen arm. Conclusion: Patients with hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy treated with inotersen showed preserved or improved QOL at 66 weeks compared to those who received placebo.This research was funded by Akcea Therapeutics and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Incinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Generating fast logic circuits for m-select n-port round Robin arbitration

Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription.This paper generalizes the problem of Round Robin Arbitration (RRA) from 1-select to m-select (mRRA) and offers new circuit architectures for it. RRAs are found in networking equipment and computer systems with high throughput buses. We first propose fast/novel circuits for the fundamental problem of finding the first m 1's in an n-bit vector (from the left or right), i.e., generalized select Priority Encoder (mPE). The obvious solution to mPE is cascading m regular (1-select) PEs. Our solutions, however, are based on parallel prefix networks, where the nodes are replaced by "saturated adder"s. We use mPE as a building block to construct an mRRA, which has single cycle latency and can arbitrate up to m requests per clock cycle. We took two arbiters from the liter rature, TC-PPA (1-select) and 3DP2S (2-select), and generalized them into mRRAs, which we call mTC-PPA and 3DPmS-RRA. We wrote fully parameterized HDL code generators. Logic synthesis results show that mTC-PPA and 3DPmS-RRA are up to 100% faster than the cascade solution and have up to 65% smaller Area-Timing Products (ATP). Comparing mTC-PPA and 3DPmS-RRA, 3DPmS-RRA circuits are slightly faster than mTC-PPA on the average. In terms of ATP, mTC-PPA is superior by far and can be as small as 30% of 3DPmS-RRA

Neutrophil‐to‐Lymphocyte Ratios in Patients Undergoing Aortic Valve Replacement: The PARTNER Trials and Registries

Background The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a marker of systemic inflammation has been associated with worse prognosis in several chronic disease states, including heart failure. However, few data exist on the prognostic impact of elevated baseline NLR or change in NLR levels during follow-up in patients undergoing transcatheter or surgical aortic valve replacement (TAVR or SAVR) for aortic stenosis. Methods and Results NLR was available in 5881 patients with severe aortic stenosis receiving TAVR or SAVR in PARTNER (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves) I, II, and S3 trials/registries (median [Q1, Q3] NLR, 3.30 [2.40, 4.90]); mean NLR, 4.10; range, 0.5-24.9) and was evaluated as continuous variable and categorical tertiles (low: NLR ≤2.70, n=1963; intermediate: NLR 2.70-4.20, n=1958; high: NLR ≥4.20, n=1960). No patients had known baseline infection. High baseline NLR was associated with increased risk of death or rehospitalization at 3 years (58.4% versus 41.0%; adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.39; 95% CI, 1.18-1.63; P<0.0001) compared with those with low NLR, irrespective of treatment modality. In both patients treated with TAVR and patients treated with SAVR, NLR decreased between baseline and 2 years. A 1-unit observed decrease in NLR between baseline and 1 year was associated with lower risk of death or rehospitalization between 1 year and 3 years (aHR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.82-0.89; P<0.0001). Conclusions Elevated baseline NLR was independently associated with increased subsequent mortality and rehospitalization after TAVR or SAVR. The observed decrease in NLR after TAVR or SAVR was associated with improved outcomes. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT00530894, NCT0134313, NCT02184442, NCT03225001, NCT0322141