The Effects of Shale Gas Production on Natural Gas Prices

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for natural gas, measured on an annual average basis, fell 56.8 percent between 2007 and 2012, in response to strong growth in domestic energy production. The application of horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to shale rock formations contributed significantly to this increase in supply, as the technique boosted natural gas production yield by more than 25 percent over this period. Since shale gas has been a key player in domestic natural gas production for only a few years, and because it has been tracked over a relatively short period (since 2007) by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), analysts find that it is difficult to quantify precisely the effects that shale gas has had on natural gas prices. However, data indicate that increasingly higher natural gas prices during the first half of 2008 lured additional shale gas to the market. As natural gas prices peaked in July 2008, drilling activity (as measured by rig counts) hit an all-time high.2 Eventually, effects of oversupply took hold

As American as Apple Inc.: Corporate Ownership and the Fight for Tax Reform

Both supporters and critics of the current tax advantages enjoyed by U.S. multinational corporations (MNCs) bolster their arguments with appeals to patriotism: the MNCs and their political supporters argue that allowing inversions or other similar arrangements and instituting another tax holiday for “repatriating” overseas earnings are good for the American economy as a whole; opponents condemn these tax advantages as unpatriotic in depriving the U.S. of enormous sums of needed revenue. But where, precisely, is the “home” to which profits held offshore return? For many purposes, home is where the shareholders are. Determining ownership of U.S. MNCs such as Apple and GE, however, is extremely hard to do. Appeals for policies that promote U.S. competitiveness by presuming U.S. ownership of U.S. incorporated parent companies rest, in the end, on very little.https://repository.upenn.edu/pennwhartonppi/1034/thumbnail.jp

Памяти коллеги

Некролог про життєвий і науковий шлях відомого науковця і викладача, фахівця з цифрових методів визначення і стабілізації параметрів друкарського процесу, професора, доктора технічних наук, професора кафедри репрографії, заступника директора ВПІ НТУУ «КПІ імені Ігоря Сікорського» з наукової роботи, члена спеціалізованих вчених рад ВПІ НТУУ «КПІ» та УАД, члена редакційної колегії збірника наукових праць «Технологія і техніка друкарства» Морфлюка Валерія Федоровича.Obituary on the life and scientific career of a famous scientist and teacher, a specialist in digital methods of determination and stabilization of parameters of the printing process, Professor, PhD, Professor Department of Reprography, Deputy Director of the PPI NTUU ‘Igor Sikorsky KPI’ for research, member of specialized academic councils of the PPI NTUU ‘KPI’ and the UAP, member of the editorial Board of collection of scientific works ‘Technology and technique of typography’ Valerii Morfliuk.Некролог о жизненном и научном пути известного ученого и преподавателя, специалиста по цифровым методам определения и стабилизации параметров печатного процесса, профессора, доктора технических наук, профессора кафедры репрографии, заместителя директора ИПИ НТУУ «КПИ имени Игоря Сикорского» по научной работе, члена специализированных ученых советов ИПИ НТУУ «КПИ» и УАП, члена редакционной коллегии сборника научных трудов «Технология и техника книгопечатания» Морфлюка Валерия Федоровича

The impact of Patient and Public Involvement in the SlowMo study: Reflections on peer innovation

BACKGROUND: The SlowMo study demonstrated the effects of SlowMo, an eight-session digitally supported reasoning intervention, on paranoia in a large-scale randomized-controlled trial with 362 participants with schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis. AIM: The current evaluation aimed to investigate the impact of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in the SlowMo study. METHOD: PPI members were six women and three men from Sussex, Oxford and London with experience of using mental health services for psychosis. They received training and met at least 3-monthly throughout the project. The impact of PPI was captured quantitatively and qualitatively through (i) a PPI log of recommendations and implementation; (ii) written subjective experiences of PPI members; (iii) meeting minutes; and (iv) outputs produced. RESULTS: The PPI log revealed 107 recommendations arising from PPI meetings, of which 87 (81%) were implemented. Implementation was greater for recruitment-, data collection- and organization-related actions than for dissemination and emergent innovations. Qualitative feedback revealed impacts on study recruitment, data collection, PPI participants' confidence, knowledge, career aspirations and society more widely. Outputs produced included a film about psychosis that aired on BBC primetime television, novel webpages and journal articles. Barriers to PPI impact included geography, travel, funding, co-ordination and well-being. DISCUSSION: A future challenge for PPI impact will be the extent to which peer innovation (innovative PPI-led ideas) can be supported within research study delivery. PATIENT AND PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Planned Patient and Public Contribution in SlowMo comprised consultation and collaboration in (i) design, (ii) recruitment, (iii) qualitative interviews and analysis of service users' experiences of SlowMo therapy and (iv) dissemination

The Effects of Defamilisation and Familisation Measures on the Accumulation of Retirement Income for Women in the UK

This paper is concerned with the link between the effects of pro-market pension reforms on women and familisation/defamilisation measures. It aims to contribute to the study of this link in three ways. Firstly, it identifies defamilisation/familisation measures which have the potential to reduce negative effects of pro-market pension measures on women. Secondly, based on the examples from the UK, it shows that the government’s willingness to provide sufficient defamilisation/familisation measures to assist women to deal with the negative effects of the pro-market pension measures should not be taken for granted. Thirdly, it suggests ways for tackling this problem

Origin of Cosmic Magnetic Fields

We propose that the overlapping shock fronts from young supernova remnants produce a locally unsteady, but globally steady large scale spiral shock front in spiral galaxies, where star formation and therefore massive star explosions correlate geometrically with spiral structure. This global shock front with its steep gradients in temperature, pressure and associated electric fields will produce drifts, which in turn give rise to a strong sheet-like electric current, we propose. This sheet current then produces a large scale magnetic field, which is regular, and connected to the overall spiral structure. This rejuvenates the overall magnetic field continuously, and also allows to understand that there is a regular field at all in disk galaxies. This proposal connects the existence of magnetic fields to accretion in disks. We not yet address all the symmetries of the magnetic field here; the picture proposed here is not complete. X-ray observations may be able to test it already.Comment: 18 pages, no figures; to be published in Proc. Palermo Meeting Sept. 2002, Eds. N. G. Sanchez et al., The Early Universe and the Cosmic Microwave Background: Theory and Observation