Which biofuel market does the ethanol tariff protect? Implications for social welfare and GHG emissions

The ethanol tariff is one of the instruments used by the government to encourage domestic ethanol production. Existing literature analyzing the market and welfare effects of the US ethanol tariff has concluded that removing the tariff would increase social surplus and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, due to the replacement of corn ethanol with lower cost and lower GHG intensive sugarcane ethanol. This paper re-examines these findings in the presence of a domestic cellulosic ethanol industry. The current RFS mandate requires 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuel, a portion of which could be met by any non-starch based biofuel that reduces emissions by at least 50% compared to an energy equivalent amount of gasoline. Sugarcane ethanol has been classified as an advanced biofuel, and competes for market share with domestic advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol. In addition, it also competes with corn ethanol for market share in the non-advanced biofuel market. The dual market for sugarcane ethanol raises the question of which domestic biofuel market the tariff protects. Our results show that the effect of removing the tariff on social welfare and GHG emissions is ambiguous and depends on which biofuel market the tariff is protecting. If the tariff protects the corn ethanol market, its removal increases welfare and GHG emissions. However, if the tariff protects the cellulosic ethanol market, removing the tariff could increase emissions. Whether the tariff protects either the corn ethanol or cellulosic ethanol market, or both depends on the relative costs and supply elasticities of the three types of biofuel. In general, the removal of the tariff leads to an increase in social surplus, although in some cases, such as when the excess supply elasticity of sugarcane ethanol is not very elastic, net welfare could decrease when the tariff is removed. Removal of the tariff also reduces the share of domestically produced fuel, and this effect is greater when the tariff is protecting both the cellulosic and corn ethanol markets, i.e. the removal of the tariff causes a reduction in the production of both biofuels.biofuel, ethanol tariff, fuel externalities, Agricultural and Food Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q17, Q18, Q42,

Efficient memory-level parallelism extraction with decoupled strands

We present Outrider, an architecture for throughput-oriented processors that exploits intra-thread memory-level parallelism (MLP) to improve performance efficiency on highly threaded workloads. Outrider enables a single thread of execution to be presented to the architecture as multiple decoupled instruction streams, consisting of either memory accessing or memory consuming instructions. The key insight is that by decoupling the instruction streams, the processor pipeline can expose MLP in a way similar to out-of-order designs while relying on a low-complexity in-order micro-architecture. Instead of adding more threads as is done in modern GPUs, Outrider can expose the same MLP with fewer threads and reduced contention for resources shared among threads. We demonstrate that Outrider can outperform single-threaded cores by 23-131% and a 4-way simultaneous multi-threaded core by up to 87% in data parallel applications in a 1024-core system. Outrider achieves these performance gains without incurring the overhead of additional hardware thread contexts, which results in improved efficiency compared to a multi-threaded core

Economics of the Renewable Energy Transition

Course Objectives: (1) Familiarize students with the energy sector and electricity markets (2) Equip students with analytical tools to examine economic problems related to the renewable energy transition (3) Provide an environment for conducting independent research while engaging with peers from other disciplines (4) Develop skills in self, peer, and group assessments (5) Develop skills in information searching and retrieval using library and public domain source

A Three and a Half Year Old Girl's Responses to Astrid Lindgren's My Very Own Sister

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Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Effective in Decreasing the Severity of Distress in Abnormal Auditory Perception of Sound?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective review is to determine whether or not cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective in decreasing the severity of distress in abnormal auditory perception of sound. STUDY DESIGNS: Review of two randomized controlled trials and one open trial, published in the English language in 2008, 2014, and 2017. DATA SOURCES: The three studies used in this review were published in peer-reviewed journals, in English and found in PubMed. OUTCOMES MEASURED: Decrease in severity of distress by the patient after receiving treatment. Recording methods included the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90-R), The Quality of Life Inventory (QOLI), and Amsterdam Misophonia Scale (A-MISO-S). RESULTS: Robinson et al., (Viirre ES, Bailey KA, et al. A randomized controlled trial of cognitive-behavior therapy for tinnitus. Int Tinnitus J. 2008;14(2):119-126) reported a significant effect which showed a group-by-time interaction (F[3,87] = 5.542; p = .01), concluding that there were overall improvements in distress symptoms. Juris et al., (Andersson G, Larsen HC, Ekselius L. Cognitive behaviour therapy for hyperacusis: A randomized controlled trial. Behav Res Ther. 2014;54:30-37. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2014.01.001) showed a significant treatment effect (F(1,55) = 4.3, p \u3c0.05, also concluding that distress symptoms decreased after implementation of CBT. Schroder et. Al, (Vulink NC, van Loon AJ, Denys DA. Cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in misophonia: An open trial. J Affect Disord. 2017;217:289-294. doi: S0165- 0327(16)32168-1 [pii]) showed a mean reduction in A-MISO-S scores following treatment was - 4.5 (SD 3.4, range 6-15) (t = -12.198, df = 89, p \u3c .001), corresponding with an improvement to mild misophonia. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggests that cognitive behavioral therapy effectively decreases severity of distress in abnormal auditory perception of sound. Future study is warranted, especially RCTs, to evaluate abnormal auditory perception of sound with broader inclusion criteria, including more than one sound disorder

The Role of Estrogen (Estradiol and Estrone) on the Development of Delayed Cerebral Ischemia After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is a significant complication following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). Recent evidence has suggested that biochemical mediators alter cerebral perfusion resulting in neurological decline. Estrogens (estrone–E1 and estradiol–E2) are mediators with demonstrated neuroprotective properties that could be implicated in DCI. The impact of E1 or E2 on outcomes in humans following aSAH has been understudied. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between E1 and E2 levels and DCI following aSAH. Plasma and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) samples collected after hemorrhage on 99 acute, adult aSAH patients admitted to the Neurovascular ICU enrolled in a NIH funded study-RO1NR004339. Three plasma and up to 5 CSF samples were selected for E1 and E2 analysis from each patient representing early(1–4), middle(4-6) and late(7-10) days after hemorrhage and were assayed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. DCI was operationalized as radiographic/ultrasonic evidence of impaired cerebral blood flow accompanied by neurological deterioration. Statistical analysis included detailed descriptive, group based trajectory and multiple logistic regression using SAS v9.2. Group based trajectory identified 2 groups over time for both plasma E1 (61.4% E1-high and 38.6% E1-low) and E2 (48% E2-high and 52% E2-low) values using censored normal model. Weighted Chi Square analysis identified differences between trajectory groups by gender(p=.02), menopause(.05), age(p<.001) and fisher grade(p=.008) with patients in the high E1 group having higher severity of injury than those in the low E1 group. Likewise, patients with higher HH (E1 p=.01, E2 p=.02) and Fisher (E1 p=.008, E2 p=.08) were more likely to have higher plasma estrogen levels. The presence of DCI was also significantly associated with higher levels of plasma E1(p=.002) and E2(p=.03) and the high E1 trajectory group(p=.09). CSF was evaluated in 36 aSAH patients. Similar correlations between higher E1 and E2 CSF concentrations and severity of injury and DCI were noted. These results provide the first clinical evidence that E1 and E2 concentrations in plasma and CSF are associated with severity of injury and DCI and provide incentive for future studies to clarify the potential role of estrogen in ischemic complications after aSAH

A Model Crisis Response Plan for Ephrata High School

The purpose of this project was to develop a comprehensive plan for managing a crisis at Ephrata High School, Ephrata, Washington. To achieve this purpose, current research, literature, and other selected sources were reviewed. Additionally, specific plans, information, and forms were adapted and developed to serve Ephrata High School and the Ephrata community