Gasoline Price Increases: Federal and State Authority to Limit "Price Gouging"

In the aftermath of last year’s hurricane season, questions arose regarding increased prices in the areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma and the effect that the damage caused by the hurricanes would have on prices, specifically gasoline prices, in other parts of the country. As gasoline prices have continued to rise in the months since, Congress has considered legislation addressing gasoline and oil prices that includes provisions related to price gouging. The House has recently passed two bills that include a federal prohibition on price gouging (H.R. 3893 and H.R. 5253). This report discusses state laws regarding price gouging, the role of the federal government in addressing rising gas prices, and selected federal legislative proposals specific to price gouging

Pendant Hydrogen-Bond Donors in Cobalt Catalysts Independently Enhance CO_2 Reduction

The bioinspired incorporation of pendant proton donors into transition metal catalysts is a promising strategy for converting environmentally deleterious CO_2 to higher energy products. However, the mechanism of proton transfer in these systems is poorly understood. Herein, we present a series of cobalt complexes with varying pendant secondary and tertiary amines in the ligand framework with the aim of disentangling the roles of the first and second coordination spheres in CO_2 reduction catalysis. Electrochemical and kinetic studies indicate that the rate of catalysis shows a first-order dependence on acid, CO_2, and the number of pendant secondary amines, respectively. Density functional theory studies explain the experimentally observed trends and indicate that pendant secondary amines do not directly transfer protons to CO_2, but instead bind acid molecules from solution. Taken together, these results suggest a mechanism in which noncooperative pendant amines facilitate a hydrogen-bonding network that enables direct proton transfer from acid to the activated CO_2 substrate

Error analysis of free probability approximations to the density of states of disordered systems

Theoretical studies of localization, anomalous diffusion and ergodicity breaking require solving the electronic structure of disordered systems. We use free probability to approximate the ensemble- averaged density of states without exact diagonalization. We present an error analysis that quantifies the accuracy using a generalized moment expansion, allowing us to distinguish between different approximations. We identify an approximation that is accurate to the eighth moment across all noise strengths, and contrast this with the perturbation theory and isotropic entanglement theory.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Electronically Modified Cobalt Aminopyridine Complexes Reveal an Orthogonal Axis for Catalytic Optimization for CO₂ Reduction

The design of effective electrocatalysts for carbon dioxide reduction requires understanding the mechanistic underpinnings governing the binding, reduction, and protonation of CO₂. A critical aspect to understanding and tuning these factors for optimal catalysis revolves around controlling the electronic environments of the primary and secondary coordination sphere. Herein we report a series of para-substituted cobalt aminopyridine macrocyclic catalysts 2–4 capable of carrying out the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to CO. Under catalytic conditions, complexes 2–4, as well as the unsubstituted cobalt aminopyridine complex 1, exhibit i_(cat)/i_p values ranging from 144 to 781. Complexes 2 and 4 exhibit a pronounced precatalytic wave suggestive of an ECEC mechanism. A Hammett analysis reveals that ligand modifications with electron-donating groups enhance catalysis (ρ < 0), indicative of positive charge buildup in the transition state. This trend also extends to the Co^(I/0) potential, where complexes possessing more negative E(CoI/0) reductions exhibit greater i_(cat)/i_p values. The reported modifications offer a synthetic lever to tune catalytic activity, orthogonal to our previous study of the role of pendant hydrogen bond donors

Effects of Heat Exposure on Body Water Assessed using Single-Frequency Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis and Bioimpedance Spectroscopy

International Journal of Exercise Science 10(7): 1085-1093, 2017. The purpose of this study was to determine if heat exposure alters the measures of total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW), and intracellular water (ICW) in both single-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS). Additionally, we sought to determine if any differences exist between the BIA and BIS techniques before and after brief exposure to heat. Body water was evaluated for twenty men (age=24±4 years) in a thermoneutral environment (22°C) before (PRE) and immediately after (POST) 15 min of passive heating (35°C) in an environmental chamber. The mean difference and 95% limits of agreement at PRE demonstrated that BIS yielded significantly higher body water values than BIA (all p0.05; 0.2±1.5kg). Additionally, the ES of the mean differences at POST were trivial to small and the r-values were high (r≥0.96). When analyzing the changes in body water before and after heat exposure, POST values for BIS were significantly higher than PRE (all

Pendant Hydrogen-Bond Donors in Cobalt Catalysts Independently Enhance CO_2 Reduction

The bioinspired incorporation of pendant proton donors into transition metal catalysts is a promising strategy for converting environmentally deleterious CO_2 to higher energy products. However, the mechanism of proton transfer in these systems is poorly understood. Herein, we present a series of cobalt complexes with varying pendant secondary and tertiary amines in the ligand framework with the aim of disentangling the roles of the first and second coordination spheres in CO_2 reduction catalysis. Electrochemical and kinetic studies indicate that the rate of catalysis shows a first-order dependence on acid, CO_2, and the number of pendant secondary amines, respectively. Density functional theory studies explain the experimentally observed trends and indicate that pendant secondary amines do not directly transfer protons to CO_2, but instead bind acid molecules from solution. Taken together, these results suggest a mechanism in which noncooperative pendant amines facilitate a hydrogen-bonding network that enables direct proton transfer from acid to the activated CO_2 substrate

Obesity as Assessed by Body Adiposity Index and Multivariable Cardiovascular Disease Risk

To assess the role of body adiposity index (BAI) in predicting cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality, in comparison with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and the waist circumference to hip circumference ratio (WHR). This study was a prospective 15 year mortality follow-up of 4175 Australian males, free of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. The Framingham Risk Scores (FRS) for CHD and CVD death were calculated at baseline for all subjects. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the effects of the measures of obesity on CVD and CHD mortality, before adjustment and after adjustment for FRS. The predictive ability of BAI, though present in the unadjusted analyses, was generally not significant after adjustment for age and FRS for both CVD and CHD mortality. BMI behaved similarly to BAI in that its predictive ability was generally not significant after adjustments. Both WC and WHR were significant predictors of CVD and CHD mortality and remained significant after adjustment for covariates. BAI appeared to be of potential interest as a measure of % body fat and of obesity, but was ineffective in predicting CVD and CHD