Analysis of the U.S. Electric Power Industry

In the U.S., the power industry is a primary energy consumption sector. Accurate knowledge on production efficiency in the industry has vital welfare implication from both economic and environmental perspectives. The first two essays investigate the causal impact of the vertical separation of the electricity transmission sector from the generation sector on production efficiency. In the first essay, I ask whether the specific market restructuring is sufficient to enhance how efficiently production is allocated among producers. Based on a difference-in-difference comparison on cost-sensitivity of utilization between coal-fired generators in the treatment region (Southwest Power Pool) and that in a control region, I fail to find any significant private cost savings by reallocating production across firms. My second essay takes a further step and looks into one potential explanation of the results: enabled market power under restructuring. Following a common method to measure competition, I simulate the prices that would have occurred had the wholesale market been competitive. Then I compare the simulated prices with the best estimates available for actual wholesale prices to measure the market price-cost margins. Empirical results demonstrate that the vertical separation of the electricity transmission sector actually led to an increase in the markup in the wholesale market, indicating evidence of market power exercised. In the last essay, we propose to investigate whether there is stickiness in the pass-through from fossil fuel spot prices to the fossil-fuel procurement costs for the U.S. electric power producers, and if there is, to what extent the sluggishness is, and how it varies across different types of fossil fuels

A review of studies on luxury hotels over the past two decades

The purpose of this study was to identify current research trends and clarify the changing direction of studies on luxury hotels. Scholarly studies published between 1994 and 2014 were examined through content analysis, using such keywords as luxury hotels , deluxe hotels , upscale hotels , high-end hotels , and four- or five-star hotels . The contributions were then screened to focus on luxury hotel-centered topics. The search revealed 70 qualified scholarly research articles. Conceptual studies were limited, with empirical studies representing a majority of the luxury hotel researches. The luxury hotel researches that were identified were categorized into nine groups by research themes: marketing, human resources (HR), finance, strategic management, technology, service quality, food science, tourism and others, with marketing, HR and technology being the most popular research themes. Analysis of methodological trends in luxury hotel research indicated that the majority of the researchers utilized quantitative methods employing various statistical analysis techniques. Overall, luxury hotel research is still limited in the number of publications and diversity of research topics. This study was the first comprehensive content analysis on luxury hotels conducted to date. The findings of this study may provide future researchers and academicians with new insights based on past study as well as ideas for future research. It is hoped this study will contribute to the development of a reliable knowledge base from which practitioners may inform plans and action regarding future luxury hotels

Effect of accommodation on the heat conduction through nitrogen, argon, helium and deuterium between 0° C. and -183° C. from the aspect of (1) the temperature drop relation; (2) the heat conduction through gases at low pressures

The present paper deals with a modification of the experimental procedure which has been developed at the Imperial College in relation to observations of the Heat Transport through Gases and the related effect of accommodation. A compensating system of wires and tubes was employed in conjunction with suitable thermostatic arrangements which enable the Heat Transport to be investigated in the neighbourhood of, (1) The temperature of Melting Ice. (2) The temperature of solid C.O in spirit (3) The temperature of Liquid Oxygen The Gases tested were Nitrogen, Helium, Argon, and Deuterium, and the experiments were carried out over a range of pressures between 15 and 0.5 ems Hg on the one hand and between ,003cms Hg and .0008 eras Hg on the other. In this way a direct test of the Fourier Equation modified in respect of Temperature Drop was found possible, and at the same time Law of Heat Transport operating for strongly rarefied gases, could be also examined with the same apparatus. Calculations of the coefficient of accommodation have been carried out from both aspects, and in this manner the validity of Knudsen's definitions, both in regard to Temperature Drop and Accommodation have been tested. The principle of Compensation associated with the Hot Wire system has been theoretically examined in the important case of the Heat Transfer at low pressure. The accuracy of the formulae relevant to calculations of the average collision paths used in conjunction with the Temperature Drop theory have been fully considered, and the corrections for the effect of Thermal Transpiration in relation to the pressures measured by the Mc-Leod gauges have been discussed in detail. The effect of temperature on the Thermal conductivity of the gases under test was found to be satisfied in all cases by a relation of the form, n* K/K0 = (T/Ç) where the value of n has been found to vary with the nature of the gas. Values of the temperature coefficient of Thermal conductivity, corresponding to the various bath temperatures are given along with the magnitude of the factor f associated with the formula, K f*l CvOpen acces

Contribution of the antibiotic chloramphenicol and its analogues as precursors of dichloroacetamide and other disinfection byproducts in drinking water

Dichloroacetamide (DCAcAm), a disinfection byproduct, has been detected in drinking water. Previous research showed that amino acids may be DCAcAm precursors. However, other precursors may be present. This study explored the contribution of the antibiotic chloramphenicol (CAP) and two of its analogues (thiamphenicol, TAP; florfenicol, FF) (referred to collectively as CAPs), which occur in wastewater-impacted source waters, to the formation of DCAcAm. Their formation yields were compared to free and combined amino acids, and they were investigated in filtered waters from drinking-water-treatment plants, heavily wastewater-impacted natural waters, and secondary effluents from wastewater treatment plants. CAPs had greater DCAcAm formation potential than two representative amino acid precursors. However, in drinking waters with ng/L levels of CAPs, they will not contribute as much to DCAcAm formation as the μg/L levels of amino acids. Also, the effect of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) on DCAcAm formation from CAPs in real water samples during subsequent chlorination was evaluated. Preoxidation of CAPs with AOPs reduced the formation of DCAcAm during postchlorination. The results of this study suggest that CAPs should be considered as possible precursors of DCAcAm, especially in heavily wastewater-impacted waters

The QR Algorithm

In this section, we will consider two methods for computing an eigenvector and in addition the associated eigenvalue of a matrix A

A new genus and a new species of the tribe Haplotropidini Sergeev (Orthoptera: Acridoidea, Pamphagidae, Pamphaginae) with a key to the three genera of the tribe from China

This paper reports a new genus and a species of the tribe Haplotropidini Sergeev, 1995, i.e. Sulcohumpacris Yin, Yin et Cao gen. n. and Sulcohumpacris hebeiensis Yin, Yin et Cao sp. n. from Hebei Province, China. The new genus is similar to Humphaplotropis Xiao, Yin et Yin, 2013, but differs from the latter by the hump-formed pronotum along the median keel being deeply cut by hind sulcus and hence divided in two waves in lateral view, the anterior margin being acutely angular in the middle, the apex not reaching the hindmargin of the eyes, the frontal ridge being widened at the median ocellus, and the abdomen having large teeth along the median keel in lateral view. A key to the three genera of this Chinese tribe is given. The type specimens are deposited in the Museum of Hebei University, Baoding, China

Note On Certain Inequalities for Neuman Means

In this paper, we give the explicit formulas for the Neuman means $N_{AH}$, $N_{HA}$, $N_{AC}$ and $N_{CA}$, and present the best possible upper and lower bounds for theses means in terms of the combinations of harmonic mean $H$, arithmetic mean $A$ and contraharmonic mean $C$.Comment: 9 page