Towards OpenMath Content Dictionaries as Linked Data

"The term 'Linked Data' refers to a set of best practices for publishing and connecting structured data on the web". Linked Data make the Semantic Web work practically, which means that information can be retrieved without complicated lookup mechanisms, that a lightweight semantics enables scalable reasoning, and that the decentral nature of the Web is respected. OpenMath Content Dictionaries (CDs) have the same characteristics - in principle, but not yet in practice. The Linking Open Data movement has made a considerable practical impact: Governments, broadcasting stations, scientific publishers, and many more actors are already contributing to the "Web of Data". Queries can be answered in a distributed way, and services aggregating data from different sources are replacing hard-coded mashups. However, these services are currently entirely lacking mathematical functionality. I will discuss real-world scenarios, where today's RDF-based Linked Data do not quite get their job done, but where an integration of OpenMath would help - were it not for certain conceptual and practical restrictions. I will point out conceptual shortcomings in the OpenMath 2 specification and common bad practices in publishing CDs and then propose concrete steps to overcome them and to contribute OpenMath CDs to the Web of Data.Comment: Presented at the OpenMath Workshop 2010, http://cicm2010.cnam.fr/om

Efficiency, Compensation, and Discrimination: What is at Stake When Implementing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme?

In 2005, an EU-wide emissions trading scheme covering major CO2 producing sites shall come into power. The key objective of the trading scheme is to promote cost-efficiency of carbon reduction within the EU. We identify policy-relevant tradeoffs between overall efficiency, compensation and competitive neutrality which arise in the concrete implementation of the EU emissions trading scheme through National Allocation Plans. --emissions trading,allowance allocation,competition,National Allocation Plans,computable general equilibrium

The Role of Family-Based Designs in Genome-Wide Association Studies

Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) offer an exciting and promising new research avenue for finding genes for complex diseases. Traditional case-control and cohort studies offer many advantages for such designs. Family-based association designs have long been attractive for their robustness properties, but robustness can mean a loss of power. In this paper we discuss some of the special features of family designs and their relevance in the era of GWAS.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-STS280 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Economic Implications of Alternative Allocation Schemes for Emission Allowances: A Theoretical and Applied Analysis

Political feasibility of emission trading systems may crucially depend on the free initial allocation of emission allowances to energy-intensive industries in order to ameliorate adverse production and employment effects. We investigate the potential trade-off between such compensation and economic efficiency for alternative allocation rules where emission allowances are based on either emissions or output. Based on analytical partial equilibrium and numerical general equilibrium analysis, we show that in open trading systems the trade-off becomes the more severe, the higher the international permit price is. Whenever the permit price can be considered exogenous to firms or industries, the output-based allocation rule is distinctly less costly than the emission-based rule to preserve output and employment in energy-intensive sectors. The reason is that emission-based allocation of allowances not only provides an implicit output subsidy but also lowers the effective price of emission inputs to regulated firms. Emissionbased allocation is particularly expensive towards higher international permit prices where the implicit subsidies to emission use in energy-intensive sectors produce drastic efficiency losses, since they imply high expenditures for carbon permit imports rather than high net revenues from efficient carbon permit exports. --computable general equilibrium,emissions trading,allowance allocation

On the Design of Optimal Grandfathering Schemes for Emission Allowances

To meet its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU plans to implement an emissions trading system with grandfathering of allowances. Besides having distributional impacts, the choice of the grandfathering scheme may affect efficiency if firms anticipate how future allocations depend on upcoming decisions. In this paper, we determine central design rules for optimal grandfathering within a simple two-period model. We find that for (small) open trading systems, where allowance prices are exogenous, first-best second-period grandfathering schemes must not depend on firm-specific decisions in the first period. Second-best schemes correspond to a Ramsey rule of optimal tax differentiation and are generally based on both previous emissions and output. However, of closed emissions trading systems, i.e. endogeneous allowance prices, first- and second-best rules coincide and must not depend on previous output levels. They consist of an assignment proportional to the emissions in the first period plus a term which does not depend on firm-specific decisions in either of the two periods. --emissions trading,grandfathering,efficiency

Mission Impossible!? On the Harmonization of National Allocation Plans under the EU Emissions Trading Directive

Starting in 2005, the EU will implement a CO2 emissions trading scheme. In this paper we show that the outspoken goals of economic efficiency and free allocation of allowances are incompatible with harmonized allocation rules. In general, the assignment of allowances is endogenous and differs widely across countries, thereby substantiating concerns for implicit state aid and competitive distortions. We discuss potential adjustments to the Directive in order to allow for harmonization, i.e. for identical assignment factors to similar firms located in different EU countries. --emissions trading,allowance allocation,national allocation plan,competitive distortions