How Did Ontario Pulp and Paper Producers Respond to Effluent Regulations, 1985-89?

This paper explores the effects of effluent regulatory activity on firm behavior in the pulp and paper industry in Ontario. The model uses instrumental variables to attempt to distinguish between that correlation between emission limits and emissions coming from regulatory capture and that coming from true influence on the part of the regulator. The model also attempts to identify the response channels on the part of the firms: data are available on reported investments in abatement capital and on firms' water consumption, correlated with output. Estimation results suggest that total suspended solids (TSS) limits were more effective than biological oxygen demand (BOD) limits in controlling emissions. Firm responses to TSS limits were in part through modulating output and these responses lowered emissions. In contrast, firms reported investing in abatement technology in response to reductions in BOD limits, but these reported investments had no discernible impact on emissions. Firm responses to court summons, fines, and inquiries were impossible to detect. Possible causes of these results are that penalties for effluent discharge infractions in Ontario during the period studied were too light to influence firm behavior measurably, and that emission limits are set high enough not to be binding for most firms in the sample. Cet article explore les effets de la réglementation des émissions de polluants sur les firmes de l'industrie ontarienne des pâtes et papier. Le modèle utilise des variables instrumentales pour faire la distinction entre les effets liés à la capture de l'agence de réglementation et des effets vraiment propres à l'action du régulateur. Le modèle cherche également à identifier les moyens utilisés par les entreprises pour faire face à la réglementation : des données sont disponibles pour les dépenses en équipement anti-pollution des entreprises et sur la quantité d'eau consommée. Les résultats tendent à démontrer que le contrôle des émissions polluantes se ferait de façon plus efficace par l'imposition d'une limite sur les rejets de matières en suspension (MES) que par une limite sur la demande biochimique en oxygène. Les effets constatés sur la firme d'une limite sur les MES, proviendraient en partie d'une modification dans la production, qui aurait pour effet de diminuer les émissions. Par contre, les investissements en équipement anti-pollution, consentis pour atteindre les objectifs de réduction de DBO, n'ont eu aucun effet sur les émissions. L'impact des poursuites légales, des amendes et des enquêtes est impossible à détecter. Parmi les causes possibles de ces résultats, notons que les sanctions imposées par l'Ontario aux entreprises lors d'une infraction sur l'émission de polluant, durant la période d'étude, étaient trop faibles pour influencer de façon mesurable le comportement des entreprises. Une autre cause pourrait être le fait que les limites d'émissions sont assez élevées pour ne pas être contraignantes pour la plupart des firmes de l'échantillon.Environment, Regulation, Pulp and Paper, Environnement, réglementation, pâtes et papier

Supersymmetric Baryonic Branes

We derive an energy bound for a `baryonic' D5-brane probe in the $adS_5\times S^5$ background near the horizon of $N$ D3-branes. Configurations saturating the bound are shown to be 1/4 supersymmetric $S^5$-wrapped D5-branes, with a total Born-Infeld charge $N$. Previous results are recovered as a special case. We derive a similar energy bound for a `baryonic' M5-brane probe in the background of $N$ M5-branes. Configurations saturating the bound are again 1/4 supersymmetric and, in the $adS_7\times S^4$ near-horizon limit, provide a worldvolume realization of the `baryon string' vertex of the (2,0)-supersymmetric six-dimensional conformal field theory on coincident M5-branes. For the full M5-background we find a worldvolume realization of the Hanany-Witten effect in M-theory.Comment: 32 pp. Third version is the same as the second except for a little additional material. To appear in JHE

Representing Network Trust and Using It to Improve Anonymous Communication

Motivated by the effectiveness of correlation attacks against Tor, the censorship arms race, and observations of malicious relays in Tor, we propose that Tor users capture their trust in network elements using probability distributions over the sets of elements observed by network adversaries. We present a modular system that allows users to efficiently and conveniently create such distributions and use them to improve their security. The major components of this system are (i) an ontology of network-element types that represents the main threats to and vulnerabilities of anonymous communication over Tor, (ii) a formal language that allows users to naturally express trust beliefs about network elements, and (iii) a conversion procedure that takes the ontology, public information about the network, and user beliefs written in the trust language and produce a Bayesian Belief Network that represents the probability distribution in a way that is concise and easily sampleable. We also present preliminary experimental results that show the distribution produced by our system can improve security when employed by users; further improvement is seen when the system is employed by both users and services.Comment: 24 pages; talk to be presented at HotPETs 201

Have Good Readers--Will Go Places

John, a well developed fifth grade boy, has been chosen to repre sent his school in an all-city sports contest. Since he is very athletic and has been encouraged by his classmates, he stands a good chance of winning the 100-yard-dash trophy for his school. Sounds exciting, doesn\u27t it? But, wait. What if his teacher tells him to run slowly so the other boys can keep up with him? No teacher would dream of doing that. We do not expect children to run at the same rate, and we encourage them to try to excel

Insulin Solution Stability and Biocompatibility with Materials Used for an Implantable Insulin Delivery Device Using Reverse Phase HPLC Methods

open access articleAbstract: Insulin (Humulin® R IU500) has been delivered from an implantable artificial pancreas in diabetic rats and pigs. The artificial pancreas which was implanted in the peritoneum was fabricated from several biocompatible materials such as polycarbonate, stainless steel, polyurethane, titanium and a polyurethane resin. The device also contains a glucose responsive smart gel which controls the di usion of insulin dependent on the surrounding glucose environment. As the insulin reservoir is refillable and in contact with the device materials, assessing its biocompatibility with these various device component materials was conducted. Insulin can undergo chemical degradation mainly via a deamidation reaction on glutamine and asparagine residues rendering its biological hormone functionality. Two Reverse Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) methods were developed and validated for detection of insulin and degradant Asn A21 desamido insulin (method A) and insulin and degradant Asn B3 desamido insulin (method B). Material biocompatibility studies show that stainless steel and titanium are suitable for an implantable insulin delivery device design over a 31-day period. The use of polycarbonate and polyurethane could be considered if the insulin reservoir in the device was only to remain in the device for less than 11 days after which time there is a loss in cresol which acts in a protective capacity for insulin stability