Long-Run Effects of Post-Kyoto Policies: Applying a Fully Dynamic CGE model with Heterogeneous Capital

The paper develops a new type of CGE model to predict the effects of carbon policies on consumption, welfare, and sectoral development in the long run. Growth is fully endogenous, based on increasing specialization in capital varieties, and specic in each sector of the economy. The benchmark scenario is calculated based on the endogenous gains from specialization which carry over to policy simulation. Applying the model to the Swiss economy we nd that a carbon policy following the Copenhagen Accord entails a moderate but not negligible welfare loss compared to development without any negative eects of climate change. Energy extensive as well as capital and knowledge intensive sectors prot in the form of increased growth rates.Carbon policy, CGE models, energy and endogenous growth, heterogeneous capital

Orthogonal pair-directed codon reassignment as a tool for evaluating the factors affecting translation in E. coli

2018 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Proteins are polymers of amino acids that are essential for life, central to cellular function, and have applications in fields ranging from materials science to biomedicine. Proteins in nature are composed of 20 amino acids with limited variability in size and chemical properties. Expanding the genetic code to contain non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) that contain functionalities not contained in nature is a powerful strategy for probing and extending the properties of proteins. Current in vivo systems for expanding the genetic code have focused on using an engineered orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA and aminoacyl tRNA-synthetase pairs (tRNA/aaRS) to direct incorporation of ncAAs at amber stop codons. In order to further expand the genetic code to 22 or more amino acids, additional codons must be targeted for reassignment to ncAAs. The genetic code is degenerate; 18 of the 20 canonical amino acids are encoded by more than one codon. Breaking the degeneracy of the genetic code by orthogonal pair directed sense codon reassignment is one pathway to genetic codes of 22 or more amino acids. However, orthogonal pair directed sense codon reassignment is hampered by a limited understanding of the relative importance of the factors that affect the translation of proteins. Here, we describe the repurposing of two commonly used orthogonal pairs from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii (M. jannaschiiI) and Methanosarcina barkeri (M. barkeri) to measure the in vivo reassignment efficiency of 30 different sense codons to tyrosine in E. coli with a simple fluorescence-based screen. The suite of sense codon reassignment efficiencies identified multiple promising codons for reassignment to ncAAs that have not been previously identified. Importantly, every sense codon was partially reassigned to tyrosine when either orthogonal tRNA/aaRS pair was used. Sense codons reassigned to tyrosine with high efficiency may be used directly for reassignment to ncAAs, and any sense codon with measurable reassignment to tyrosine may be improved through directed evolution. The sets of in vivo sense codon reassignment also revealed that E. coli are broadly tolerable to a large number of amino acid substitutions to tyrosine throughout the proteome. The codon reassignment efficiency measurements also enabled an analysis of the in vivo importance of local codon context effects, tRNA abundance, aminoacylation level, tRNA modifications, and codon-anticodon binding energy in determining translational fidelity. Quantitative sense codon reassignment efficiency measurements showed that the process of translation is highly balanced and both tRNA abundance and aminoacylation efficiency do not appear to be dominant factors in determining translational fidelity. Furthermore, quantitative measurements of amber stop codon reassignment efficiencies to tyrosine with the orthogonal M. jannaschii pair revealed that local codon context is an important factor for orthogonal pair directed amber stop codon reassignment

Organ Conscription: How the Dead Can Save the Living

This Note will examine the failures of uncompensated and voluntary donation and argue that the only way to meet our country\u27s organ needs is to make donation mandatory. Part II of this Note examines the history of voluntary organ donation in the United States. This history describes the evolution of organ donation laws from the first transplant until the present day. Part II also details the consequences and shortcomings of the current system. Part III examines three other proposed solutions to the organ deficit. These possible solutions include routine requests, an organ market, and presumed consent. However, none of these solutions would increase the organ supply as effectively as a mandatory donation system. Part IV discusses how a mandatory donation program is the most effective way to ensure a sufficient organ supply. Part IV also argues that once an individual dies, the organs become the property of the deceased\u27s heirs. Finally, Part IV discusses why a mandatory donation system would be unconstitutional unless donor\u27s families are compensated for the taking of the deceased\u27s organs

Productivity of hired and family labour and determinants of technical inefficiency in Ghana's fish farms

This paper examines the productivity of hired and family labour and determinants of technical inefficiency of fish farms in Ghana. A modified Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function which accounts for zero usage of family and hired labour is employed on cross-sectional data of 150 farmers collected in 2007. The results reveal that family labour, hired labour, feed, seed, land, other cost and extension visit have reasserting influence on fish farm production. Findings also show that family and hired labour used for fish farming production in Ghana may be equally productive. The combined effects of operational and farm specific factors (age, experience, land, gender, pond type and education) influence technical inefficiency although individual effects of some variables may not be significant. Mean technical efficiency is estimated to be 79 percent. Given the present state of technology and input level, the possibility of enhancing production can be achieved by reducing technical inefficiency by 21 percent through adoption of practices of the best fish farm. --Ghana,fish farms,technical inefficiency,hired and family labour,stochastic frontier.

Organ Conscription: How the Dead Can Save the Living

This Note will examine the failures of uncompensated and voluntary donation and argue that the only way to meet our country\u27s organ needs is to make donation mandatory. Part II of this Note examines the history of voluntary organ donation in the United States. This history describes the evolution of organ donation laws from the first transplant until the present day. Part II also details the consequences and shortcomings of the current system. Part III examines three other proposed solutions to the organ deficit. These possible solutions include routine requests, an organ market, and presumed consent. However, none of these solutions would increase the organ supply as effectively as a mandatory donation system. Part IV discusses how a mandatory donation program is the most effective way to ensure a sufficient organ supply. Part IV also argues that once an individual dies, the organs become the property of the deceased\u27s heirs. Finally, Part IV discusses why a mandatory donation system would be unconstitutional unless donor\u27s families are compensated for the taking of the deceased\u27s organs

Unisex-Tarife: Gebot der Gleichbehandlung oder Umverteilungsinstrument?

Auf EU_Ebene werden derzeit Bestrebungen diskutiert, geschlechtsspezifisch unterschiedliche Tarife bei privaten Versicherungen zu verbieten. Wie werden solche Tarife begründet? Welche ökonomischen Folgen hat ihre Abschaffung --

Self-Regulated Strategy Development for High School Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders

Self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) is one of the most promising strategies for improving the quality of student writing. The SRSD model has been a successful tool for increasing writing skills for over 20 years, and is demonstrated to be effective for high school students with EBD

A study of the effects of interactive writing on reading comprehension in fifth grade.

This study describes an experimental fifth grade reading class in which an interactive writing program replaced the traditional school model\u27s follow-up activities of workbooks, skill worksheets or assigned comprehension questions. For the purpose of the case-study, the researcher made careful, systematic observations, collected samples of the students\u27 work and kept detailed ethnographic notes for an entire year. The researcher hoped to learn about the complementary relationship between reading and writing and more specifically the effects of a writing-infused program on the reading comprehension ability of the students involved. The subjects of the study were a group of fourteen students selected from the middle of a class of sixty-one fifth graders. The median IQ for the entire fifth grade was 108, while it was 100 for the fourteen students participating in the study group. The IQ ranged from 93-117. In this dissertation can be found the results of the writer\u27s exploration and her answers to five research questions. Did the students make observable improvements in their writing abilities and skills? Did the writing-infused students make gains in reading comprehension? How did the writing-infused students perform in tests measuring traditional language and reading achievement as compared to the other fifth grade students in the same school receiving traditional reading instruction as recommended by the teacher\u27s manual for their basal reader? How useful did the writing-infused students feel the writing activities were to their reading and writing development? And lastly, how much interest and enjoyment did the students have in the interactive writing activities? The findings cited in this study support the researcher\u27s belief that students can be taught a process of writing that will positively affect their general reading ability--specifically their reading comprehension. The performance of the reading-writing students compared favorably to the performance of the students in the traditional classrooms. The students found the writing instruction to be appealing, informative and instructive and as a result made great progress in their competencies

The Upper Jurassic petroleum system of NE Iraq

Iraq is one of the few countries with significant potential for discovery of major oil and gas fields. Two major petroleum systems occur in Mesozoic strata, the Mid-Upper Jurassic and the Basal Cretaceous. These petroleum systems in Arabia are generally well separated by widespread evaporites of the Hith Fm., its equivalents in central to NE Iraq being the carbonates/anhydrites of the Gotnia Fm. Where missing or replaced by the clastic Barsarin Fm. a differentiation of the two Petroleum Systems becomes difficult. We here report on the Ajeel field of northern Iraq, covering the time interval from the Mid-Jurassic (Aalenian) to the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) to identify source intervals, determine maturity and conduct oil/source rock correlation with Miocene (Euphrates/JeribeFm.) oil reservoirs