Jargon alert : Sunk cost

Prices

Jargon alert : Zero-sum game

Economics

Jargon alert : Opportunity cost

Economics

Federal Reserve : The road to independence

Federal Reserve System - History ; Federal Reserve System - Independence

Book review : Calculated risk: "Fischer Black and the revolutionary idea of finance" by Perry Mehrling

Finance ; Books - Reviews

Economic history : Monetary policy in the Confederacy

Monetary policy ; Economic history ; War finance

Jargon alert : Deadweight loss

Economics

Evaluation of KDOT's Vehicle Fleet's CO2 Emissions and Possible Energy Reductions

Increasing energy demands require more energy extraction from fossil fuels. The energy is extracted through combustion and results in mainly CO2 emissions as well as other trace emissions. Reducing energy usage can save money and CO2 emissions. The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) employed the University of Kansas to perform an energy and CO2 audit in order to identify potential areas for energy savings, as well as create a Microsoft Access database to manage and analyze entries more effectively. Analysis of records provided by KDOT showed an overall decreasing trend in total miles traveled and fuel consumed. It also found that replacing older vehicle models with new models does not show the expected increase in vehicle fleet efficiency across all major vehicle types in the fleet. Using more efficient means of transportation can significantly decrease their fuel demand, namely replacing truck travel with car travel. Additionally, increasing biofuel use in their fleet will decrease their net CO2 emissions when a full life cycle analysis is considered, although some fuel system problems may arise with higher biofuel blends especially in cold weather

Quantifying the U.S. Coast Guard Ecological Risk Assessment on Diluted Bitumen

As the Federal On-Scene Coordinator in the coastal zone, the U.S. Coast Guard is charged with preparing for and responding to oil and hazardous material spills throughout our nation’s waterways to protect human health and the environment. As the scientific community continues to amass technical knowledge of unconventional crude oils, the response community must continually assess the environmental risks and update spill response plans. This research seeks to quantify the recent U.S. Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay Consensus Ecological Risk Assessment (CERA) on diluted bitumen (DB) and compare the toxicity of DB to conventional crude (CC) oils. At the height of the domestic energy renaissance, 103,000 barrels of DB were transported via railcar each day to five refineries throughout the Delaware Bay tri-state region. To assess the emerging risks associated with DB oil spills and develop the most effective response plans, Sector Delaware Bay completed a CERA in 2016. The CERA qualitatively compared and evaluated response actions and impacts to hypothetical spills in Mantua Creek, a freshwater tributary of the Delaware River, and in the brackish Delaware River. Following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) three-phase approach to Ecological Risk Assessments, the CERA is adapted and quantified with two new data sets from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the University of Quebec National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS). Utilizing Alberta Mixed Sweet Blend (CC) and Cold Lake Blend (DB) molecular composition and weathering data from NRCan and preliminary Fathead Minnow (Pimephales promelas) toxicity data from INRS, exposure and stressor-response profiles to DB are created. The ecological risk of Fathead Minnow exposure to DB spills is characterized and compared to the risks associated with CC oil spills. Based on the risk characterizations, recommendations are provided on how CC spill response techniques should be altered for DB spills to reduce the risk to mid-water zone fish

Willow Abundance and Condition Mapping in Rocky Mountain National Park

Riparian and wetland willow species have undergone serious declines in Rocky Mountain National Park as a consequence of a variety of environmental changes and, most recently, damage resulting from moose overpopulation. To address concerns about the long-term status of willows in the park, we developed remote sensing-based raster maps of riparian and wetland willow species presence, canopy cover percentage, canopy height, and leaf area index. All outputs were produced at 3-meter resolution, and represent willows as they existed in 2021. The mapping was performed via random forests classification and regression models trained on several hundred vegetation plots from a variety of sampling efforts, and making use of predictive layers derived from aerial and satellite imagery, topographic and climatic data. The maps allowed comparison of willow abundance across spatial subsets of the park, including an assessment of areas within ungulate exclosures. Riparian and wetland willow species were mapped as present on 5.45% of the park’s total area. Across these areas, most of which likely represent vegetation types where willow is not dominant but only a component, the mean mapped willow leaf area index was 0.694. Accuracy assessment relied on cross-validated model error estimates. The habitat and imagery-based presence classification models with which the willow presence map was created had error rates of 12% and 19% respectively. The regression models for prediction of canopy cover, canopy height, and leaf area index explained 50%, 56%, and 52% of the variance in the dependent variables. The maps will be used to support assessments of willow habitat in the park and (through allometric conversion of leaf area index to leaf biomass production estimates) the determination of summer seasonal moose carrying capacity