Transportation Futures: Policy Scenarios for Achieving Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets, MNTRC Report 12-11

It is well established that GHG emissions must be reduced by 50% to 80% by 2050 in order to limit global temperature increase to 2°C. Achieving reductions of this magnitude in the transportation sector is a challenge and requires a multitude of policies and technology options. The research presented here analyzes three scenarios: changes in the perceived price of travel, land-use intensification, and increases in transit. Elasticity estimates are derived using an activity-based travel model for the state of California and broadly representative of the U.S. The VISION model is used to forecast changes in technology and fuel options that are currently forecast to occur in the U.S., providing a life cycle GHG forecast for the road transportation sector. Results suggest that aggressive policy action is needed, especially pricing policies, but also more on the technology side. Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles are in particular need of additional fuel or technology-based GHG reductions

Cold molecular welding study in ultra-high vacuum Final report, 8 Oct. 1964 - 17 Dec. 1965

Cold molecular welding in ultrahigh vacuum of metals for use in Apollo projec

The normalization of sibling violence: Does gender and personal experience of violence influence perceptions of physical assault against siblings?

Despite its pervasive and detrimental nature, sibling violence (SV) remains marginalized as a harmless and inconsequential form of familial aggression. The present study investigates the extent to which perceptions of SV differ from those of other types of interpersonal violence. A total of 605 respondents (197 males, 408 females) read one of four hypothetical physical assault scenarios that varied according to perpetrator–victim relationship type (i.e., sibling vs. dating partner vs. peer vs. stranger) before completing a series of 24 attribution items. Respondents also reported on their own experiences of interpersonal violence during childhood. Exploratory factor analysis reduced 23 attribution items to three internally reliable factors reflecting perceived assault severity, victim culpability, and victim resistance ratings. A 4 × 2 MANCOVA—controlling for respondent age—revealed several significant effects. Overall, males deemed the assault less severe and the victim more culpable than did females. In addition, the sibling assault was deemed less severe compared to assault on either a dating partner or a stranger, with the victim of SV rated just as culpable as the victim of dating, peer, or stranger-perpetrated violence. Finally, respondents with more (frequent) experiences of childhood SV victimization perceived the hypothetical SV assault as being less severe, and victim more culpable, than respondents with no SV victimization. Results are discussed in the context of SV normalization. Methodological limitations and applications for current findings are also outlined

Why Don\u27t Students Major in Accounting?

William H. Bill Francisco is assistant professor of accounting, School of Accountancy, College of Business Administration, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460. Thomas G. Tom Noland is assistant professor of accounting, School of Accountancy, College of Business Administration, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460. J. Ann Kelly is temporary instructor of accounting, School of Accountancy, College of Business Administration, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460

Factors related to adolescent drinking in Appalachia

Objectives: To examine the relationships among parental monitoring, perceptions of peer drinking, and adolescent alcohol consumption. Methods: Tenth- and 12thgrade students (N=648) in a rural, Appalachian county were surveyed. Results: A binomial logistic regression revealed a composite of those who had perceptions that many peers drank, low parental monitoring, and no biological male guardian in the home were 8.496 times more likely to have ever been drunk. Other characteristics resulted in lower odds. Conclusions: Parental monitoring and perceptions of peer drinking were important predictors of drinking in this rural sample. Prevention efforts in school and at home should address both variables

Capital Structure Choices and Survival in a Deregulated Environment

We examine the impact of capital structure choices for survival in a deregulated industry. Financial leverage in particular has been identified by numerous prior studies as a major determinant of the probability of survival in most industries. In the course of a deregulation, the debt overhang effect stemming from high leverage negatively affects the ability of existing firms to survive when a regulatory shock occurs (Zingales, 1998). Following such a regulatory shock, and consistent with the tradeoff and debt overhang theories of capital structure, firms are more likely to reduce their level of leverage (Ovtchinnikov, 2010). This causes the expected costs of financial distress to rise higher and we can expect a negative association between leverage and survival in a deregulated industry. However, in a highly competitive setting, firms may signal their level of quality by contracting for more debt instead of equity (Ross, 1977). This signaling perspective can therefore induce the existence of a positive association between leverage and survival in a deregulated context. Using a sample of private trucking firms, we test this hypothesis and find a negative association between leverage and survival. In a refined analysis aimed at distinguishing high “quality” versus low “quality” firms, we adopt the “excess capacity” approach of De Vany and Saving (1977). Consistent with our initial findings, we find that the negative association between leverage and survival increases with the level of excess capacity