Eliminate the Carbon Externality

Before we do anything else, let’s establish two things: the global climate is changing at an alarming rate and the primary cause is human CO2 emissions. There is a worldwide scientific consensus on this fact. Even our own government, despite a remarkably vocal minority, has confirmed this. A report released this year by 13 government agencies identifies humans as the primary cause of global climate change and links this phenomenon to rising sea levels, increased incidence of droughts and floods, and the intensification of large storms. These events are the result of the carbon externality, the social costs of emissions we have ignored for centuries that are finally starting to add up. The best way to solve this problem is through the implementation of a carbon tax, a flat price for each ton of carbon emitted that is equal to its estimated social cost. Top economists like William Nordhaus support this proposal as the only tax being proposed that simultaneously improves economic efficiency and confers public health benefits. While Nordhaus advocates for a carbon tax as a way to raise government revenue, a better option would be a revenue-neutral carbon tax. In this scenario, revenues collected from the tax would go back to consumers and businesses in the form of a capital-tax reduction. This will reduce our emissions as carbon-intensive fuels become more expensive, this will make the fuel market more efficient as a huge externality is removed, and this will encourage investment and economic growth with the capital-tax reduction, all done without expanding the government. On its surface, levying a new tax seems divisive, especially in this political climate. The underlying concepts of a carbon tax, however, are supported by both sides of the political spectrum. Currently, carbon-intensive fuel producers do not have to pay for the damage their CO2 emissions cause. This basically amounts to a subsidy, much the same way that biofuels used to be subsidized by Renewable Fuel Standards legislation. To harness the power of capitalism we would want to remove all subsidies from the energy market, including those for renewables. No more tax credits for wind, solar, and electric cars, and no more free carbon emissions. At its heart this is conservatism, as our various options will battle it out in the free market to determine a winner (or less dramatically, a social optimum for energy use). Unfortunately, carbon taxation does come with its own challenges. Low income people will be disproportionately affected by the tax, since more of their income is used for transport and energy. It is also impossible to determine exactly by how much carbon emissions will fall. An alternative to the tax that has been proposed is a cap-and-trade system, in which a total limit on carbon emissions is set, carbon permits are assigned, and individual companies trade amongst themselves to determine how the emission reductions will be distributed. This approach sets and achieves clear emission goals as well as focuses the burden of mitigation on companies rather than people, but it would impose large administrative costs on the government and keep the market price for carbon emissions in constant flux as efficiency changes. A carbon tax, in comparison, would be easier and cheaper to implement. It would also establish a reliable price on carbon, encouraging investment in renewable sources as the energy market receives a firm price signal. Much of the skepticism concerning this policy come from people who are concerned that the economic and environmental benefits of the policy have been overblown. The others just can’t seem to see past the word “tax”. Fortunately, despite this there are quite a few real-world examples of revenue-neutral carbon taxing that we can examine for efficacy. In 2008 British Columbia instituted the first carbon tax in North America. This tax was introduced gradually, culminating in a $30/ton CO2 charge by 2012. A meta-analysis of the research into this policy was conducted by the Nicholas Institute. They found that the tax resulted in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions between 5 and 15% while the economic effects were negligible. It is expected that the environmental effects exhibited here will be more pronounced in places with heavier carbon use than the relatively small British Columbia. The plan also chose to cut income tax as the redistribution method rather than capital; a reduction in capital tax will inspire more investment and growth. It’s important to remember that British Columbia’s was an early effort. Countries all around the world, from the cleanest and greenest to carbon giants like China, are implementing or planning carbon taxes. We are learning how to make these policies more effective and efficient, and we can use this knowledge to make America’s carbon tax the best yet. As we continue to see our world changed by our decisions, it is increasingly important to ask ourselves if we are making the right ones. Implementing a revenue-neutral carbon tax is the right decision. We need it now more than ever to balance our economy and protect our Earth

Space biology initiative program definition review. Trade study 1: Automation costs versus crew utilization

A significant emphasis upon automation within the Space Biology Initiative hardware appears justified in order to conserve crew labor and crew training effort. Two generic forms of automation were identified: automation of data and information handling and decision making, and the automation of material handling, transfer, and processing. The use of automatic data acquisition, expert systems, robots, and machine vision will increase the volume of experiments and quality of results. The automation described may also influence efforts to miniaturize and modularize the large array of SBI hardware identified to date. The cost and benefit model developed appears to be a useful guideline for SBI equipment specifiers and designers. Additional refinements would enhance the validity of the model. Two NASA automation pilot programs, 'The Principal Investigator in a Box' and 'Rack Mounted Robots' were investigated and found to be quite appropriate for adaptation to the SBI program. There are other in-house NASA efforts that provide technology that may be appropriate for the SBI program. Important data is believed to exist in advanced medical labs throughout the U.S., Japan, and Europe. The information and data processing in medical analysis equipment is highly automated and future trends reveal continued progress in this area. However, automation of material handling and processing has progressed in a limited manner because the medical labs are not affected by the power and space constraints that Space Station medical equipment is faced with. Therefore, NASA's major emphasis in automation will require a lead effort in the automation of material handling to achieve optimal crew utilization

Temporal Response Properties of the Auditory Nerve in Implanted Children with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder and Implanted Children with Sensorineural Hearing Loss

This study aimed to 1) characterize temporal response properties of the auditory nerve in implanted children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD); and 2) compare results recorded in implanted children with ANSD with those measured in implanted children with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL)

Electrically Evoked Auditory Event-Related Responses in Patients with Auditory Brainstem Implants: Morphological Characteristics, Test–Retest Reliability, Effects of Stimulation Level, and Association with Auditory Detection

This study aimed to 1) characterize morphological characteristics of the electrically-evoked cortical auditory event-related potentials (eERP) and explore the potential association between onset eERP morphology and auditory vs non-auditory stimulation; 2) assess test-retest reliability of onset eERPs; 3) investigate effects of stimulation level on onset eERPs; and 4) explore the feasibility of using the onset eERP to estimate the lowest stimulation level that can be detected for individual stimulating electrodes in patients with auditory brainstem implants (ABIs)

Echolalia from a transdiagnostic perspective

Background & aimsEcholalia, the repetition of one's or others? utterances, is a behavior present in typical development, autism spectrum disorder, aphasias, Tourette's, and other clinical groups. Despite the broad range of conditions in which echolalia can occur, it is considered primarily through a disorder-specific lens, which limits a full understanding of the behavior.MethodEmpirical and review papers on echolalia across disciplines and etiologies were considered for this narrative review. Literatures were condensed into three primary sections, including echolalia presentations, neural mechanisms, and treatment approaches.Main contributionEcholalia, commonly observed in autism and other developmental conditions, is assessed, observed, and treated in a siloed fashion, which reduces our collective knowledge of this communication difference. Echolalia should be considered as a developmental, transdiagnostic, and communicative phenomenon. Echolalia is commonly considered as a communicative behavior, but little is known about its neural etiologies or efficacious treatments.ConclusionsThis review is the first to synthesize echolalia from a transdiagnostic perspective, which allows for the direct comparisons across and within clinical groups to inform assessment, treatment, conceptualization, and research recommendations.ImplicationsConsidering echolalia transdiagnostically highlights the lack of consensus on operationalization and measurement across and within disorders. Clinical and research future directions need to prioritize consistent definitions of echolalia, which can be used to derive accurate prevalence estimates. Echolalia should be considered as a communication strategy, used similarly across developmental and clinical groups, with recommended strategies of shaping to increase its effectiveness

Assessing Autism in Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Youths: Interdisciplinary Teams, COVID Considerations, and Future Directions

Autism spectrum disorders are more prevalent in children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (D/HH) than in the general population. This potential for diagnostic overlap underscores the importance of understanding the best approaches for assessing autism spectrum disorder in D/HH youths. Despite the recognition of clinical significance, youths who are D/HH are often identified as autistic later than individuals with normal hearing, which results in delayed access to appropriate early intervention services. Three primary barriers to early identification include behavioral phenotypic overlap, a lack of “gold-standard” screening and diagnostic tools for this population, and limited access to qualified clinicians. In the current article, we seek to address these barriers to prompt an appropriate identification of autism by providing recommendations for autism assessment in children who are D/HH from an interdisciplinary hearing and development clinic, including virtual service delivery during COVID-19. Strengths, gaps, and future directions for implementation are addressed

The Development and Initial Validation of the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI)

© 2016 Hogrefe Publishing. The growing use of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) in performance contexts (e.g., business, sport) has highlighted the absence of a contextually valid and reliable measure of irrational beliefs. This paper reports the development and initial validation of the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI). The iPBI was developed to provide a validated measure of the four core irrational beliefs of REBT theory. Item development was completed in three stages comprising two expert panels and one novice panel, reducing and refining 176 items to 133. Then, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to refine the measure and reduce the number of items. A total of 665 business professionals completed the 133-item scale, alongside an established measure of irrational beliefs and a measure of negative emotion. A 28-item measure was developed (the iPBI) that showed an acceptable fit to the four-factor REBT structure. The iPBI correlated well with the established irrational beliefs measure, and with anxiety, depression, and anger, demonstrating concurrent and predictive validity. Further validation efforts are required to assess the validity and reliability of the iPBI in alternative samples in other performance-related contexts

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal