Socioeconomic Impacts of Potential Wishbone Hill Coal Mining Activity

The purpose of this study is to assess some of the significant socioeconomic effects of potential coal mining activity at Wishbone Hill. The analysis scenario assumes a 16-year period of startup and mine production using two known deposits that are currently permitted by the State of Alaska for mineral exploration. “Mine Area 1” would be mined during years 2-7 and “Mine Area 2” would be mined during years 8-16. Mining would only take place at one of these areas during any given time. We considered four kinds of effects: Jobs and income, fiscal impacts, property values, and traffic.Matanuska - Susitna Borough Economic Development DepartmentIntroduction / Coal Mining Scenario / Projected Jobs and Income / Fiscal Impacts / Property Values / Traffic / References / Appendix: Notes on Methodolog

Economic Importance of Sportfishing in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough

We have estimated the economic benefits of sport fishing activity occurring within the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Borough, using data from year 2007. Our estimates are based on the recent study entitled, Economic Impacts and Contributions of Sportfishing in Alaska, 2007. 2 It contains estimates of angler spending patterns within three regions: Southcentral, Interior, and Southeast. We also used year 2007 data from the ADFG annual Statewide Harvest Survey (SWHS).3 These data allow us to allocate economic benefits to the Mat-Su Borough.Matanuska-Susitna Borough Ecnomic Development DepartmentSummary / Introduction / Methods / Results / Reference

Is There a Democracy–Civil Society Paradox in Global Environmental Governance?

Civil society is commonly assumed to have a positive effect on international cooperation. This paper sheds light on one important facet of this assumption: we examine the impact of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) on ratification behavior of countries vis-à-vis international environmental agreements (IEAs). The main argument of the paper focuses on a “democracy-civil society paradox”: although ENGOs have a positive effect on ratification of IEAs on average, this effect decreases with increasing levels of democracy. This argument is counter-intuitive and appears paradoxical because democracy is generally associated both with a more active civil society and more international cooperation. The reasons for this hypothesized effect pertain to public demand for environmental public goods provision, government incentives, and problems of collective action among ENGOs. To test the net effect of ENGOs on countries' ratification behavior, the paper uses a new dataset on ENGOs in the time-period 1973–2006. The results offer strong support for the presumed democracy–civil society paradox. </jats:p

X-ray Dose Reduction through Adaptive Exposure in Fluoroscopic Imaging

X-ray fluoroscopy is widely used for image guidance during cardiac intervention. However, radiation dose in these procedures can be high, and this is a significant concern, particularly in pediatric applications. Pediatrics procedures are in general much more complex than those performed on adults and thus are on average four to eight times longer1. Furthermore, children can undergo up to 10 fluoroscopic procedures by the age of 10, and have been shown to have a three-fold higher risk of developing fatal cancer throughout their life than the general population2,3

Experimental and simulation characterisation of flexural vibration modes in unimorph ultrasound transducers

A unimorph flexural transducer design is proposed and tested with regard to mode shapes and frequencies. The transducers consist of a passive metal cap structure, and a thin piezoelectric disc, rigidly bonded to the inside. Extensive finite element (FE) modelling, and experimental 2D, time-resolved displacement measurements were done to characterise the transducers flexural properties, and to compare them to the analytical solutions of thin vibrating plates. Emphasis was put on characterising the passive layer of the unimorph structure, before bonding the piezoelectric element, to understand how the active element affects the behaviour of the flexing plate. A high power Nd:YAG laser was used to actuate the metal plate (non-contact), and the frequency content of the resulting displacement signal was analysed to identify the flexural modes. The non-axisymmetric modes, which are conventionally disregarded because of their unfavourable acoustic properties, were also taken into account. There was excellent agreement between the experimental results and the FE simulation data. There was good agreement with the analytical edge clamped plate model, but with some notable deviations, which have not previously been identified or commented upon. Specifically, the second axisymmetric mode is split into three separate modes, which is not explained by the traditional theory of vibrating plates

Arbeitsbericht Nr. 2020-04, Dezember 2020

Das vorliegende Arbeitspapier betrachtet die Struktur von 30 Simulationsstudien, welche die Güte von verschiedenen MD-Verfahren für fehlende Werte in qualitativen Merkmalen untersuchen. Für die Betrachtung wird zunächst der allgemeine Aufbau der Studien beschrieben. Des Weiteren werden Merkmale der in den Studien verwendeten Datenmatrizen erhoben, aggregiert und ausgewertet. Dabei ist auffällig, dass z. B. ordinalskalierte Merkmale verhältnismäßig wenig untersucht werden. Darüber hinaus werden mit den verwendeten Ausfallraten gemeinsam mit den Ausfallmechanismen und -mustern die Variationen der fehlenden Daten in den Studien betrachtet. Ein weiterer Überblick wird außerdem zu den verwendeten MD-Verfahren und Bewertungskriterien gegeben. Dabei ist auffällig, dass bei den MD-Verfahren und den Bewertungskriterien sehr viele Unterschiede zwischen den Studien existieren, wodurch im Endeffekt kein MD-Verfahren oder Bewertungskriterium in mehr als 60 % der Studien verwendet wird

ANALYSIS OF THE IRAN OIL EMBARGO

This report analyses the macro-economic, sectoral, and energy effects of an Iranian oil embargo. Five scenarios are analysed reflecting various degrees of oil scarcity on the global market and different sizes of embargo coalitions. The report estimates the macro-economic impacts using the global general equilibrium model GEM-E3. The international oil and energy markets are assessed with the POLES model. This provides the impacts in prices and quantities in the international energy (oil) market. Impacts on trade flows regarding refined oil products are estimated with the OURSE model.JRC.J.1-Economics of Climate Change, Energy and Transpor

Broadband near-infrared astronomical spectrometer calibration and on-sky validation with an electro-optic laser frequency comb

The quest for extrasolar planets and their characterisation as well as studies of fundamental physics on cosmological scales rely on capabilities of high-resolution astronomical spectroscopy. A central requirement is a precise wavelength calibration of astronomical spectrographs allowing for extraction of subtle wavelength shifts from the spectra of stars and quasars. Here, we present an all-fibre, 400 nm wide near-infrared frequency comb based on electro-optic modulation with 14.5 GHz comb line spacing. Tests on the high-resolution, near-infrared spectrometer GIANO-B show a photon-noise limited calibration precision of <10 cm/s as required for Earth-like planet detection. Moreover, the presented comb provides detailed insight into particularities of the spectrograph such as detector inhomogeneities and differential spectrograph drifts. The system is validated in on-sky observations of a radial velocity standard star (HD221354) and telluric atmospheric absorption features. The advantages of the system include simplicity, robustness and turn-key operation, features that are valuable at the observation sites