Innovations in energy and climate policy: lessons from Vermont

We ask in this article: how can planners and policymakers replicate Vermont’s energy and climate policies? We begin by explaining the research methods utilized for this article—mainly research interviews with a pool of experts, coupled with a targeted literature review. We then analyze the success of Vermont energy policy across four areas: energy efficiency, renewable energy, the smart grid, and energy governance. The following sections first explain how Vermont accomplished these successes, next identify a number of remaining barriers and elements of Vermont’s approach that may not be replicable, and finally present the article’s conclusions

Investigating the Odd-Person-Out Principle: Socioemotional Adjustment of First-Year College Students in Double vs. Triple Living Scenarios

Previous research has determined that tripling college students in dorm rooms that are considered “overcrowded” can have a negative effect on students’ academic performance and quality of roommate relationships. In addition, students who are beginning their college careers are more vulnerable to depression and anxiety. The present retrospective study examined depression/anxiety levels, overall academic performance and roommate relationship quality when comparing doubled and tripled students’ experiences during their first semester of their undergraduate program. Students at a state university who accepted admission after the deadline and had been assigned to triple vs. double rooms for their first year in college were invited to participate in the study. Students were recruited via email and asked to respond online to a series of surveys that retrospectively assessed their feelings of anxiety and depression, academic performance, and roommate relationship quality during their first months of college. Of the 408 invitations sent, only 27 who had lived in triples and 8 who had lived in doubles responded to the questionnaires. Independent sample t-tests revealed no differences between groups in any of the dependent variables. The lack of group differences was likely due to the small sample size. Future research should involve a larger sample and survey students early in their college career when they are living in their initial dorm situation. Such an approach will yield a better understanding of whether living in a triple room is detrimental to various aspects of students’ college adjustment

Granny

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/1549/thumbnail.jp

Foothill Gold Line

METHODOLOGY In Fall 2017, Foothill Gold Line contracted with the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at LMU in order to conduct an intercept survey on parking needs for the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension. The study involved intercept surveys with 1,518 adults arriving and departing from six stations: South Pasadena, Fillmore, Sierra Madre Village, Azusa Downtown, Monrovia, and Arcadia. An additional 447 respondents completed the survey. However since they started their Foothill Gold Line travels outside the six stations they were removed from much of the analysis. Subjects were surveyed between 3:00 pm-8:00 pm on November 1-2, 7-9, and 14-16, with rotating station assignments and field researchers each day. A team of three to seven student field researchers and one field supervisor surveyed riders at two to three locations each day. The protocol for this study involved asking potential respondents a screener to ensure that the person was at least 18 years old. A skip pattern of every other person was also utilized to ensure unbiased collection of data during a rush of potential respondents. The survey was also translated into Spanish, and Spanish speakers were available to ask screener questions and answer any questions respondents might have. Data are weighted for accuracy based on average onboarding numbers by station, provided by Metro. Those riders who began at a station off of the Foothill Gold Line (both including and not including Union Station) are not included in weighted percentages. For the purposes of this report, numbers by station, including both “other” categories, are included. The margin of error is ±2.0% for the core sample of 1,518 respondents. RESEARCH SUMMARY The following report consists of five sections: overall weighted toplines, questions by station (including then excluding the “other” categories”), weighted questions by parking cost, and weighted questions by phase. The crosstabs provide insight into parking efficacy at each station, parking efficacy based on the cost of parking at each station, as well as parking efficacy depending on whether the station falls into phase one or phase two. To start, most riders generally drive, bike, walk, or skateboard to their station, while those who do not drive do so because the station is a walkable or bikeable distance, and/or because they do not have a vehicle available. Riders who do arrive by car or motorcycle are likely to park in a Metro structure or lot because of free parking or convenience. However, even at paid parking stations, riders are most likely to park in a Metro parking lot or structure as opposed to parking on the street or in a non-Metro lot/structure. Only about 1 out of 5 riders who start at stations with free parking said that they switched stations after paid parking was implemented to avoid the fees. Yet, a majority of riders still use the station closest to their home, regardless of whether parking is paid or free. For the majority of riders, the distance from home to the closest station is less than 10 minutes, and is less than 20 minutes for nearly everyone else. Finally, Phase 2 stations have a higher proportion of drivers, as well as do stations with free parking lots. The accuracy of these data is indicated by high response rates and low margin of error.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/studyla-databriefs/1021/thumbnail.jp

Fabrication of Atomically Precise Nanopores in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

We demonstrate the fabrication of individual nanopores in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) with atomically precise control of the pore size. Previous methods of pore production in other 2D materials create pores of irregular geometry with imprecise diameters. By taking advantage of the preferential growth of boron vacancies in hBN under electron beam irradiation, we are able to observe the pore growth via transmission electron microscopy, and terminate the process when the pore has reached its desired size. Careful control of beam conditions allows us to nucleate and grow individual triangular and hexagonal pores with diameters ranging from subnanometer to 6nm over a large area of suspended hBN using a conventional TEM. These nanopores could find application in molecular sensing, DNA sequencing, water desalination, and molecular separation. Furthermore, the chemical edge-groups along the hBN pores can be made entirely nitrogen terminated or faceted with boron-terminated edges, opening avenues for tailored functionalization and extending the applications of these hBN nanopores.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Data fusion using weakly aligned sources

We introduce a new data fusion method that utilizes multiple data sources to estimate a smooth, finite-dimensional parameter. Most existing methods only make use of fully aligned data sources that share common conditional distributions of one or more variables of interest. However, in many settings, the scarcity of fully aligned sources can make existing methods require unduly large sample sizes to be useful. Our approach enables the incorporation of weakly aligned data sources that are not perfectly aligned, provided their degree of misalignment can be characterized by a prespecified density ratio model. We describe gains in efficiency and provide a general means to construct estimators achieving these gains. We illustrate our results by fusing data from two harmonized HIV monoclonal antibody prevention efficacy trials to study how a neutralizing antibody biomarker associates with HIV genotype.Comment: 33 pages including appendices, 3 figure

Race Relations: 2017 Los Angeles Public Opinion Survey

2017 PUBLIC OPINION SURVEY METHODOLOGY As part of Forecast LA’s unique approach to forecasting in the Los Angeles region, the Center for the Study of Los Angeles conducted an outlook survey. The Los Angeles Public Opinion Survey involved 20-minute telephone sessions and online surveys with more than 2,400 adults (1,800 phone and 600 online) living in Los Angeles County. Survey respondents were asked about quality-of-life perceptions, personal economic wellbeing, economic concerns, overall life satisfaction, and various civic issues. Los Angeles Public Opinion Survey Sampling Since the primary purpose of this study was to gather representative input from adult residents within the Los Angeles region, an initial random digit dial (RDD) sample was employed. The RDD sample was drawn by determining the active phone exchanges (the first three numbers of a seven-digit phone number) and blocks with a given sampling area (in this case, by the zip codes that comprise the county). A random list of all active residential and cell phone numbers in the area was produced. This method included both listed and unlisted phone numbers. Listed samples were used to meet particular quotas for racial/ethnic categories and geographic location. The online portion was comprised of responses from double opt-in respondents who have agreed to participate in surveys. Real-time sampling and survey publishing services were also used to target respondents outside of the initial reach. Finally, listed samples were used to fill gaps within racial/ethnic and geographic quotas. For all methods, adult respondents in LA County were targeted and then randomly selected within their group. SCREENERS The protocol for this study involved asking potential respondents a series of questions, referred to as screeners, which were used to ensure that the person lived within the county and was at least 18 years old. The target sample size was 1,200 residents from the city of Los Angeles and 1,200 residents from Los Angeles County who live outside the city of LA. The first quota was a random digit dialing of approximately 750 residents (with 66% cell phone). The online survey ran concurrently with a target sample size of 600 respondents. The remaining racial/ethnic and geographic quotas were determined based on the fallout: 400 African American residents, 600 Asian residents, 400 residents from the San Fernando Valley (only within the city of Los Angeles) and 400 residents from the San Gabriel Valley. Given the demographic proportion of Latino and white residents in the region, as expected, both groups naturally fell out from the initial wave of online and phone respondents. DATA COLLECTION Telephone surveys were conducted the first four full weeks in January 2017 and first two weeks in February between the hours of 4:30pm and 9pm during the week, 10am to 4pm on Saturday, and 10am to 5pm on Sunday. The survey was translated into Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean. Translators who spoke Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean were available to conduct interviews for residents who only spoke, or were more comfortable speaking any of those languages. The online survey ran from January 13 to January 26 and was available in English and Spanish. The margin of error is ±3.0% for the entire sample of 2,404 residents.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/studyla-databriefs/1025/thumbnail.jp