Analysis of a Market for Tradable Credits, Policy Uncertainty Effects on Investment Decisions, and the Potential to Supply a Renewable Aviation Fuel Industry with an Experimental Industrial Oilseed

This research is aligned with identifying barriers throughout the alternative jet-fuel supply chain. Prices are analyzed in the market for tradable credits known as renewable identification numbers (RINs). The RIN market is a key policy instrument used in the implementation of the renewable fuel standard (RFS). The program is highly complex and drivers of RIN price are not always clear. RIN prices also exhibit multiple regimes where the price of nested RINs converge. Therefore, a smooth transition autoregressive model is employed to examine drivers of RIN price and to identify drivers of price regime change. Through research in the RIN market and renewable fuel standard, a common theme of policy uncertainty is identified in the literature. A two-variable real option model is utilized to examine the effect of policy uncertainty on the decision to invest in new production of second-generation biofuel. This represents the first attempt to isolate general market uncertainty from policy uncertainty in the biofuel producer’s optimal investment decision. RFS policy uncertainty adds to the aggregate uncertainty faced by the biofuel producer and may be impeding the original intentions of the policy program. Finally, an experimental biofuel feedstock and its potential to supply an alternative jet-fuel industry is considered. The experimental feedstock is known as pennycress, which produces an industrial oilseed. Using a partial equilibrium model of the agricultural sector, supply curves are simulated and its impacts on the agricultural sector are investigated

Transcript for Episode 26: Present at the Creation: Montana Higher Education Reforms from 1972 Constitution

https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/crucible_transcriptions/1025/thumbnail.jp

Perancangan Film Dokumenter Seni Pertunjukkan Topeng Malang

Puluhan kesenian tradisional Indonesia semakin “hilang” karena derasnya arus globalisasi, menyebabkan masyarakat semakin meninggalkan kesenian tradisional, salah satunya adalah kesnian tradisional Topeng Malang. Topeng Malang merupakan kesenian tradisional daerah yang sudah ada pada masa kerajaan Kediri dan berkembang di Kota Malang, Jawa Timur, sehingga lebih dikenal dengan nama kesenian Topeng Malang. Kesenian ini merupakan sebuah seni pertunjukkan wayang orang, yang pemerannya menggunakan Topeng.Topeng-topeng yang digunakan memiliki mimik yang berbeda, mewakili karakter atau tokoh yang diperankan (seperti tokoh berwajah marah, senang, sedih, konyol, dan lain lain).Selain itu, cerita yang dibawakan dalam pertunjukkan Topeng Malang diambil dari cerita Panji yang mengajarkan tentang kebaikan dalam hidup manusia. Hal ini menggugah penulis untuk merancang sebuah film dokumenter yang menjelaskan tentang sejarah hingga makna yang ada pada seni pertunjukkan Topeng Malang.Diharapkan dengan adanya perancangan ini, masyrakat Indonesia bisa lebih menghargai dan ikut serta dalam melestarikan kesenian tradisional yang ada di Indonesia

Impact of an improved neutrino energy estimate on outflows in neutron star merger simulations

Binary neutron star mergers are promising sources of gravitational waves for ground-based detectors such as Advanced LIGO. Neutron-rich material ejected by these mergers may also be the main source of r-process elements in the Universe, while radioactive decays in the ejecta can power bright electromagnetic post-merger signals. Neutrino-matter interactions play a critical role in the evolution of the composition of the ejected material, which significantly impacts the outcome of nucleosynthesis and the properties of the associated electromagnetic signal. In this work, we present a simulation of a binary neutron star merger using an improved method for estimating the average neutrino energies in our energy-integrated neutrino transport scheme. These energy estimates are obtained by evolving the neutrino number density in addition to the neutrino energy and flux densities. We show that significant changes are observed in the composition of the polar ejecta when comparing our new results with earlier simulations in which the neutrino spectrum was assumed to be the same everywhere in optically thin regions. In particular, we find that material ejected in the polar regions is less neutron rich than previously estimated. Our new estimates of the composition of the polar ejecta make it more likely that the color and timescale of the electromagnetic signal depend on the orientation of the binary with respect to an observer's line-of-sight. These results also indicate that important observable properties of neutron star mergers are sensitive to the neutrino energy spectrum, and may need to be studied through simulations including a more accurate, energy-dependent neutrino transport scheme.Comment: 19p, 17 figures, Accepted by Phys.Rev.

Impacts of Spatial and Temporal Variation on the Benthic Nitrogen Cycle in the York River Estuary

Changing the nitrogen and organic matter (OM) load of a marine ecosystem can dramatically alter its function. Tight benthic-pelagic coupling is a key characteristic of shallow microtidal systems like the York River Estuary (YRE), VA, where ammonification due to remineralization of OM or ammonium uptake during photosynthesis by microphytobenthos (MPB) on the benthic surface can be significant sources, or sinks, for inorganic and organic nitrogen. To examine how benthic nitrogen fluxes vary spatially and temporally in the YRE, as well as to determine the relative importance of the various nitrogen transformations taking place in the estuary, a series of field samplings and laboratory incubations were performed. Remineralization was found to increase with sediment organic content and warmer temperatures, suggesting that organic matter entering the YRE from its watershed or produced in the estuary by primary production drives the benthic nitrogen cycle. Benthic uptake was not a significant sink of ammonium, with most of the NH 4+ produced in the benthos fluxing into the water column. Nevertheless, benthic uptake displayed variation between stations. Finally, nitrification was a more important sink of ammonium than uptake by the MPB

Transcript for Episode 11: Destined to Lead: Tom Judge\u27s Path to Becoming Montana\u27s Youngest Governor

https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/crucible_transcriptions/1010/thumbnail.jp

Low mass binary neutron star mergers : gravitational waves and neutrino emission

Neutron star mergers are among the most promising sources of gravitational waves for advanced ground-based detectors. These mergers are also expected to power bright electromagnetic signals, in the form of short gamma-ray bursts, infrared/optical transients, and radio emission. Simulations of these mergers with fully general relativistic codes are critical to understand the merger and post-merger gravitational wave signals and their neutrinos and electromagnetic counterparts. In this paper, we employ the SpEC code to simulate the merger of low-mass neutron star binaries (two $1.2M_\odot$ neutron stars) for a set of three nuclear-theory based, finite temperature equations of state. We show that the frequency peaks of the post-merger gravitational wave signal are in good agreement with predictions obtained from simulations using a simpler treatment of gravity. We find, however, that only the fundamental mode of the remnant is excited for long periods of time: emission at the secondary peaks is damped on a millisecond timescale in the simulated binaries. For such low-mass systems, the remnant is a massive neutron star which, depending on the equation of state, is either permanently stable or long-lived. We observe strong excitations of l=2, m=2 modes, both in the massive neutron star and in the form of hot, shocked tidal arms in the surrounding accretion torus. We estimate the neutrino emission of the remnant using a neutrino leakage scheme and, in one case, compare these results with a gray two-moment neutrino transport scheme. We confirm the complex geometry of the neutrino emission, also observed in previous simulations with neutrino leakage, and show explicitly the presence of important differences in the neutrino luminosity, disk composition, and outflow properties between the neutrino leakage and transport schemes.Comment: Accepted by PRD; 23 pages; 24 figures; 4 table

Neutron star-black hole mergers with a nuclear equation of state and neutrino cooling: Dependence in the binary parameters

We present a first exploration of the results of neutron star-black hole mergers using black hole masses in the most likely range of $7M_\odot-10M_\odot$, a neutrino leakage scheme, and a modeling of the neutron star material through a finite-temperature nuclear-theory based equation of state. In the range of black hole spins in which the neutron star is tidally disrupted ($\chi_{\rm BH}\gtrsim 0.7$), we show that the merger consistently produces large amounts of cool ($T\lesssim 1\,{\rm MeV}$), unbound, neutron-rich material ($M_{\rm ej}\sim 0.05M_\odot-0.20M_\odot$). A comparable amount of bound matter is initially divided between a hot disk ($T_{\rm max}\sim 15\,{\rm MeV}$) with typical neutrino luminosity $L_\nu\sim 10^{53}\,{\rm erg/s}$, and a cooler tidal tail. After a short period of rapid protonization of the disk lasting $\sim 10\,{\rm ms}$, the accretion disk cools down under the combined effects of the fall-back of cool material from the tail, continued accretion of the hottest material onto the black hole, and neutrino emission. As the temperature decreases, the disk progressively becomes more neutron-rich, with dimmer neutrino emission. This cooling process should stop once the viscous heating in the disk (not included in our simulations) balances the cooling. These mergers of neutron star-black hole binaries with black hole masses $M_{\rm BH}\sim 7M_\odot-10M_\odot$ and black hole spins high enough for the neutron star to disrupt provide promising candidates for the production of short gamma-ray bursts, of bright infrared post-merger signals due to the radioactive decay of unbound material, and of large amounts of r-process nuclei.Comment: 20 pages, 19 figure