Employment and Output Effects of Climate Policies

Recently academic work has been put forward that argues for a great urgency to implement effective climate policies to stop global warming. Concrete policy proposals for reducing CO2 emissions have been developed by the IPCC. One of the major instruments proposed is a carbon tax. A main obstacle for its implementation, however, are concerns about the short-term effects on employment and output. In order to miti-gate possible negative effects of enviromental taxes on output and employment, several European countries have introduced so-called environmental tax reforms (ETR) which are designed in a budget neutral manner: Revenues from the tax can be used to reduce existing distortionary taxes or to subsidize less polluting activities. We apply this idea to a carbon tax scheme by performing a vector autoregression (VAR) with output and employment data of nine industrialized countries. We impose a simultaneous policy shock on the economy whereby a carbon tax is levied on high-carbon intensive industries and the resulting tax revenue is redistributed to low-carbon intensive industries. Impulse response analysis shows that such a policy allows for net gains in terms of output and employment

Characterisation of grain quality of Syrian durum wheat genotypes affecting milling performance and end-use quality

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/707 on 03.04.2017 by CS (TIS)Access to the full version of this thesis is unavailable due to third party copyright restrictionsDurum wheat is a strategic crop in Syria produced in high quantities and used mainly for the production of Arabic bread, bulgur and pasta. This investigation is the first known systematic study relating the grain quality of nine domestic cultivars to milling performance and pasta quality in order to map the Syrian durum wheat characteristics onto the world market requirements and hence determine the potential export development. Furthermore, it examines the influence of environment, genotype and their interaction on the physiochemical characteristics of five durum wheat cultivars grown in five different locations under rainfed and irrigated conditions in Syria. AACC standard methods were principally used in this investigation. Despite the soundness of grains revealed by elevated test weight (83.1-85.9 kghlˉ¹), 1000 kernel weight (42.50-55.0 g) and falling number (433-597 sec), it is necessary to improve the kernel quality of Syrian durum wheat for the degree of vitreousness and total protein content (average quality data were 65% and 12.6% respectively) for better end-use product quality. In addition, irrigation demonstrated a significant effect on kernel quality traits, for example, irrigated samples showed the highest test weights. The importance of three physiochemical markers, namely total protein content, the degree of vitreousness and kernel hardness was substantiated and presented useful indicators for future development in Syrian durum wheat breeding programmes. Optimum cooking time of pasta and cooked pasta firmness correlated significantly with final viscosity (r = 0.51, 0.73), dough development time (r = 0.69 and 0.63) and Rmax (r = -0.64, -0.43) which indicated that RV A, farinograph and extensograph techniques were useful indicators of the cooking properties of pasta. Overall, this study revealed that to achieve the aim of improving the domestic production and expanding the potential export of durum wheat crop in Syria, both genetic and agronomic improvements are still required

Design and characterization of a shock and vibration mitigation seat system

Extensive research has been conducted into the development of pneumatic seatbladder systems for shock and vibration mitigation for use in current U.S military vehicle envelopes. This research expands on the previous work through an elaborate experimental characterization of four prototype air bladder seat cushion systems. The experimental characterization conducted included shock testing, continuous vibration, and internal dynamic pressure measured during the shock event. The shock testing was conducted both at the Army Research Lab as well at UNLV. The shock testing conducted at UNLV was performed on a drop tower designed and constructed during the time of this research. The scope of the testing was extended beyond the U.S military\u27s requirements to include random continuous vibrations which can cause physical harm to the occupant over extended durations. The primary considerations are to increase the survivability of crewmembers exposed to mine blasts and mitigation of the vibration experienced in rough or combat related ride situations. Various suggestions from the tested prototypes are provided for field implementation. This study showed that the seat bladder system produced reductions in dynamic response index (DRI) and from baseline values of pelvic accelerations (up to 77% or 790m/s 2 ), vibration dosage values (VDV up to 60%), and lumbar spinal load (up to 60% or 6000N)

Developing a Series of Sabbath School Lessons on the Book of Zechariah

This project report concerns the developing o f a series of adult Sabbath School Lessons on the book of Zechariah. The lessons endeavor to address the major themes in Zechariah and cover each of the fourteen chapters in sequential order. However, due to the scope and lim­itation of this study, the lessons do not deal in detail with every verse. These lessons are primarily devotional in nature designed to build up spiritually the body o f Christ. They are also designed to draw the world-wide Seventh-day Adventist church members to focus attention on this book in daily study for one quarter. Daily study of Scripture enables church members to treasure it as the source of encouragement, revival, and reformation. This study of Zechariah has greatly benefited me both intellec­tually and spiritually. It has helped me to sharpen my skills in interpreting, teaching, and communicating effectively the inspired Word of God. There is such a great spiritual value in simply taking the Word o f God for what it is, studying it, praying and meditating on it, and, as a result, experiencing the Holy Spirit\u27s enlightenment. I have attempted to make clear several important points to the readers. Among these points are: the Christ-centeredness of the book of Zechariah; it s relevant and timely messages to the present and future life and mission of the Adventist church; and its potential as a rich resource for a spiritual awakening among God\u27s people in these last days. In its fourteen chapters, Zechariah\u27s messages are particularly appropriate to Seventh-day Adventists. The themes of salvation by faith, the judgment, and the three advents of Christ, etc. all are to be found. The book complements, clarifies, and reinforces the messages o f Daniel and Revelation

Dynamic and static analyses of continuous curved composite multiple-box girder bridges.

Horizontally curved concrete deck on multiple steel box girder bridges is a structurally efficient, economic, and aesthetically pleasing method of supporting curved roadway systems. Modern highway constructions are often in need of bridges with horizontally curved alignments due to the tight geometry restrictions. Continuous curved composite box girder bridges allow for the use of longer spans, thus reducing costs of the substructure. Despite all inherent advantages of continuous curved composite box girder bridges, they do pose challenging problems for engineers in calculating the load distribution due to moving vehicles across the bridges. Curved bridges are subjected to high torsional as well as flexural stresses. The interaction between the box girders is also more complicated in curved bridges than that in straight bridges. North American codes for bridges have recommended expressions for the load distribution factors only for straight bridges and not for curved bridges. Impact factors proposed in these codes are generally restricted also to straight bridges. In addition, simplified formula to predict the fundamental frequency of analyzing the bridges is not available. To assist engineers in dealing with the complexities of continuous curved composite box girder bridges, a reliable, accurate, and simple method is required to calculate the structure\u27s response under self-weight and vehicular loading. The refined three-dimensional finite-element analysis method is employed to investigate the static and dynamic responses of the bridge. Two two-equal-span two-box physical bridge models were constructed in the laboratory. One of the bridge models was straight in plan while the other was horizontally curved. The physical models were tested under several static loading cases to better comprehend their elastic behaviour. Free-vibration tests were also conducted to obtain the natural frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes of the bridge models. Both models were loaded up to failure to examine the collapse mechanism and its correlation with the finite element modeling. Findings obtained from the two physical bridge models were compared to those predicted by the analytical models. The agreement between the finite element model and the experimental model made it possible to use the analytical models to conduct three parametric studies on several bridges.Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2004 .S26. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 65-07, Section: B, page: 3593. Advisers: J. Kennedy; K. Sennah. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2004

The Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty in the Banking Sector in Syria

A large number of studies on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty have been conducted in marketing over the years. Customer satisfaction is a crucial factor for bank  success and it has the possibility to influence customer loyalty. From a theoretical perspective it is very important to investigate which factors influence customer satisfaction. This paper analyzes the basic factors  which affects customer satisfaction towards services of Bank. This study adopted empirical research design on the sample size of 401 respondents who were customers of different banks in Syria. Data is collected through survey questionnaires related to customer expectation ,price fairness , customer satisfaction and customer loyalty towards services of banks . Data is analyzed by using AMOS 18. The research reviews the current academic marketing literature and tries to identify antecedents of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The findings from this study also provide important managerial implications. Keywords: bank, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty