An investigation into combined electroconvulsive and chlorpromazine therapy in the treatment of schizophrenia

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Challenges to Developing a Global Satellite Climate Monitoring System

Satellites are critical to the ability to understand and address climate change, due to their unique ability to provide comprehensive global monitoring of the environment. More than 30 nations have been involved in satellite Earth observations, with more than 200 satellite instruments operating in 2014 alone. However, gaps remain in the ability to adequately monitor global climate change, due in part to a lack of international consensus on the definition of an adequate monitoring system. This paper examines ongoing international efforts to identify the requirements of a global satellite climate monitoring system, including high-level efforts by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites (CEOS), as well as efforts to define more detailed technical requirements being undertaken by GCOS, WMO, and the European Space Agency (ESA). Comparing the distinct processes and interim results of these groups highlights the lack of international consensus on the definition of an adequate global climate monitoring system. Developing such a system is a complex, multifaceted challenge, which requires expert technical knowledge of climate science and satellite capabilities as well as attention to political concerns for sovereignty and long-term international cooperation. The paper examines the adequacy of the current satellite monitoring capabilities by developing a comprehensive dataset including all unclassified Earth observation satellites operating or planned between 1990 and 2020. This analysis shows that within each international effort, gaps in the type of data collected are present. Even when some data is collected on a particular variable, it is not necessarily done in a way that meets technical requirements for climate assessment and forecasting. A lack of free and open data sharing compounds this challenge, further decreasing the amount of data contributing to international climate monitoring efforts. The lack of consensus on the requirements of a global climate monitoring system makes it difficult for nations to use international coordination mechanisms to plan and prioritize future satellite systems. The paper concludes by providing a series of recommended steps to improve harmonization among international efforts. This includes coordinating the bottom-up method used within GCOS with the top-down method used at WMO to identify concrete recommendations that will allow nations to prioritize investments that improve climate monitoring and/or improve the efficiency of the existing system. It recommends consolidating international efforts to define technical requirements to avoid duplication and facilitate prioritization among user groups with regard to which variables should be collected and what technical requirements must be met. A more systematic and integrated approach to system definition will make it possible for nations to shift and/or increase investments in satellite technology to better address agreed-upon needs and priorities

Uncertainty and Learning in Human Capital and Labor Markets

This dissertation considers two aspects of the role of information and uncertainty in decision making. I begin with a broad introduction which surveys recent trends in the literature on human capital development and the role of human capital in labor markets. In Chapter 2, I explore a particular issue related to imperfect information and human capital investment. I apply a framework of investment under uncertainty to parents' decision to invest their time in their children's human capital. I show that parents' risk preferences are an important determinant of the time that they spend with their children. I develop an illustrative model which shows that parents who are more tolerant of risk should invest more heavily in early childhood, and also proportionately more in early than in late childhood. I then use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), which contains measures of risk preferences for parents as well as multiple measures of parental time with children over childhood, to show that parents' time use follows the predicted pattern. Moreover, parents' time use follows this pattern more clearly for categories of time use which are more related to human capital investment. Chapter 3 considers another aspect of information, this time in the context of the labor market. I follow Gibbons and Katz (1991), who use the Current Population Survey (CPS) Displaced Workers Supplement (DWS) to measure the "lemons effect" of being laid off by comparing the wage outcomes of workers who are laid off to those who are displaced by a plant closing. I present suggestive evidence that when workers find reemployment in jobs which require a similar mix of tasks, this lemons effect of a layoff is mitigated. This finding is inconsistent with simple generalizations of the lemons effect to jobs with multiple tasks. My work begins to reconcile research which focuses on task-based microfoundations of productivity with research on employer learning. I next show that the measurement of the lemons effect is potentially hampered by a measurement issue known as recall bias. The CPS DWS asks respondents about displacement over the previous three years. While workers displaced by plant closing report displacements with equal likelihood over the previous three years, those who were laid off appear to forget displacement at a substantial rate. The measured lemons effect is driven by workers reporting displacement three years ago, when this bias is potentially most important. This is consistent with laid off workers forgetting displacement when they found new jobs with relative ease

International Cooperation in Climate Monitoring via Satellite: Incentives and Barriers to Data Sharing

Understanding and addressing climate change requires the collection of a significant amount of environmental data. Although satellites can best collect much of this data, it is not possible for one nation to collect all relevant climate data on its own, and there are currently gaps in relevant satellite data collection. Further, much of the data that is collected is not shared freely, but instead has barriers to access that limit its use for both scientific research and operational purposes. This research examined the development of data sharing policies to identify the barriers and incentives to international sharing of climate data collected by satellites. Quantitative analysis of satellite data-sharing policies for Earth observation data as well as case studies of domestic agencies in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, showed that limitations in data sharing are due to 1) a belief that data can efficiently be treated as a commodity, a viewpoint which conflicts with experience for nearly all climate data; 2) the lack of recognition of the normative justification for sharing climate data, though this norm exists for weather data; and 3) insufficient agreement that international cooperation and data sharing are required to adequately monitor climate change. These limitations exist due to uncertainties about the nature of the market for climate data, the inadequate understanding of climate impacts and the ability to mitigate them, and an inadequate understanding of the requirements of climate science and operational activities. To address this situation, countries should adopt free and open policies, recognizing that social benefit is maximized when data is treated as a public good and freely shared, and that cost recovery and commercialization of scientific satellite data are not viable. Countries should also share climate data internationally because it has the potential to save lives and property, creating a moral requirement for sharing. Finally, countries should agree on a minimal set of climate data that must be shared to adequately monitor climate. This agreement should be institutionalized by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) resolution framework, similar to WMO Resolution 40, which addressed weather data sharing