•Focus on demand response (DR) scheduling of air separation units (ASUs), a class of electricity-intensive chemical plants.•Provide a novel scheduling framework that accounts for plant ...dynamics.•Dynamic models are identified from historical operating data.•A Lagrangian relaxation scheme is developed, providing excellent computational results.•Extensive simulation studies show considerable reductions in operating cost and peak power demand.
Peaks in renewable electricity generation and consumer demand are desynchronized in time, posing a challenge for grid operators. Industrial demand response (DR) has emerged as a candidate for mitigating this variability. In this paper, we demonstrate the application of DR to an air separation unit (ASU). We develop a novel optimal production scheduling framework that accounts for day-ahead electricity prices to modulate the grid load presented by the plant. We account for the dynamics of the plant using a novel dynamic modeling strategy, which allows us to formulate the corresponding optimization problem as a mixed integer linear program (MILP). Further, we present a new relaxation scheme that affords fast solutions of this MILP. Extensive simulation results show significant reductions in operating costs (that benefit the plant) and reductions in peak power demand (that benefit the grid).
Prestige-biased social learning occurs when individuals preferentially learn from others who are highly respected, admired, copied, or attended to in their group. This form of social learning is ...argued to reflect novel forms of social hierarchy in human societies, and, by providing an efficient short-cut to acquiring adaptive information, underpin the cumulative cultural evolution that has contributed to our species' ecological success. Despite these potentially important consequences, little empirical work to date has tested the basic predictions of prestige-biased social learning. Here we provide evidence supporting the key predictions that prestige-biased social learning is used when it constitutes an indirect cue of success, and when success-biased social learning is unavailable. We ran an online experiment (n = 269) in which participants could copy each other in real-time to score points on a general-knowledge quiz. Our implementation of 'prestige' was the number of times someone had previously been copied by others. Importantly, prestige was an emergent property of participants' behaviour during the experiment; no deception or manipulation of prestige was employed at any time. We found that, as predicted, participants used prestige-biased social learning when the prestige cue was an indirect cue of success, and when direct success information was unavailable. This highlights how people flexibly and adaptively employ social learning strategies based on the reliability of the information that such strategies provide.
Economic Sanctions Morgan, T. Clifton; Syropoulos, Constantinos; Yotov, Yoto V.
The Journal of economic perspectives,
2023, Letnik:
37, Številka:
1
Journal Article
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Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, we examine the evolution of economic sanctions in the post-World War II era and reflect on the lessons that could be drawn from their features and patterns of ...use. We observe that, during this time, there has been a remarkable increase in the use of sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy. We classify this period into four 'eras' and discuss, in this context, how the evolution of sanctions may be linked to salient features of the contemporaneous international political and economic orders. Our review of the related literatures in economics and political science suggests, among other things, that our understanding of sanction processes could be significantly advanced by marrying these perspectives. We conclude by identifying several questions and challenges, and by discussing how interdisciplinary research could address them.
The Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP), the end-Triassic mass extinction (ETE), and associated major carbon cycle perturbations occurred synchronously around the Triassic–Jurassic (T–J) ...boundary (201 Ma). Negative carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) recorded in marine and terrestrial sediments attest to the input of isotopically light carbon, although the carbon sources remain debated. Here, we explore the effects of mantle-derived and thermogenic carbon released from the emplacement of CAMP using the long-term ocean–atmosphere–sediment carbon cycle reservoir (LOSCAR) model. We have tested a detailed emission scenario grounded by numerous complementary boundary conditions, aiming to model the full extent of the carbon cycle perturbations around the T–J boundary. These include three negative CIEs (i.e., Marshi/Precursor, Spelae/Initial, Tilmanni/Main) with sharp positive CIEs in between. We show that a total of ∼24,000 Gt C (including ∼12,000 Gt thermogenic C) replicates the proxy data. These results indicate that thermogenic carbon generated from the contact aureoles around CAMP sills represents a credible source for the negative CIEs. An extremely isotopically depleted carbon source, such as marine methane clathrates, is therefore not required. Furthermore, we also find that significant organic carbon burial, in addition to silicate weathering, is necessary to account for the positive δ13C intervals following the negative CIEs.
Monoubiquitinated histone H2B plays multiple roles in transcription activation. H2B is deubiquitinated by the Spt-Ada-Gcn5 acetyltransferase (SAGA) coactivator, which contains a four-protein ...subcomplex known as the deubiquitinating (DUB) module. The crystal structure of the Ubp8/Sgf11/Sus1/Sgf73 DUB module bound to a ubiquitinated nucleosome reveals that the DUB module primarily contacts H2A/H2B, with an arginine cluster on the Sgf11 zinc finger domain docking on the conserved H2A/H2B acidic patch. The Ubp8 catalytic domain mediates additional contacts with H2B, as well as with the conjugated ubiquitin. We find that the DUB module deubiquitinates H2B both in the context of the nucleosome and in H2A/H2B dimers complexed with the histone chaperone, FACT, suggesting that SAGA could target H2B at multiple stages of nucleosome disassembly and reassembly during transcription.
N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptor (NMDA-R) antagonists produce schizophrenia-like positive and negative symptoms in healthy human subjects. Preclinical research suggests that NMDA-R antagonists ...interfere with the function of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons and alter the brain oscillations. These changes have been hypothesized to contribute to psychosis. In this investigation, we evaluated the hypothesis that the NMDA-R antagonist ketamine produces alterations in cortical functional connectivity during rest that are related to symptoms. We administered ketamine to a primary sample of 22 subjects and to an additional, partially overlapping, sample of 12 subjects. Symptoms before and after the experimental session were rated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). In the primary sample, functional connectivity was measured via functional magnetic resonance imaging almost immediately after infusion began. In the additional sample, this assessment was repeated after 45 min of continuous ketamine infusion. Global, enhanced functional connectivity was observed at both timepoints, and this hyperconnectivity was related to symptoms in a region-specific manner. This study supports the hypothesis that pathological increases in resting brain functional connectivity contribute to the emergence of positive and negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia.
We review a number of developments and trends in the literature on economic sanctions. We discuss salient contributions to the theoretical literature, data collection, and empirical work on the ...impact, effectiveness and success of sanctions in Economics and Political Science. Our interdisciplinary perspective highlights the existence of a stark contrast in the ways the two disciplines view and analyze sanctions. Taking advantage of this perspective, we identify potential directions for future work. Most importantly, we argue that moving toward a better understanding of the causes and consequences of economic sanctions requires a much tighter integration of concepts from Political Science and Economics and a more extensive interdisciplinary collaboration.
We consider the combined effects that overshooting and the 12C(α, γ)16O reaction rate have on variable white dwarf (WD) stellar models. We find that carbon–oxygen (CO) WD models continue to yield ...pulsation signatures of the current experimental 12C(α, γ)16O reaction rate probability distribution function when overshooting is included in the evolution. These signatures hold because the resonating mantle region, encompassing ≃0.2 M⊙ in a typical ≃0.6 M⊙ WD model, still undergoes radiative helium burning during the evolution to a WD. Our specific models show two potential low-order adiabatic g-modes, g2 and g6, that signalize the 12C(α, γ)16O reaction rate probability distribution function. Both g-mode signatures induce average relative period shifts of ΔP/P = 0.44% and ΔP/P = 1.33% for g2 and g6, respectively. We find that g6 is a trapped mode, and the g2 period signature is inversely proportional to the 12C(α, γ)16O reaction rate. The g6 period signature generally separates the slower and faster reaction rates, and has a maximum relative period shift of ΔP/P = 3.45%. We conclude that low-order g-mode periods from CO WDs may still serve as viable probes for the 12C(α, γ)16O reaction rate probability distribution function when overshooting is included in the evolution.
Policymakers frequently argue that multilateral sanctions are more likely to induce a target state to alter its behavior than are unilateral sanctions. Repeated empirical studies using the Familiar ...Haufbauer, Schott, and Elliot data set demonstrate that unilateral sanctions "work" more often than multilateral sanctions, however. In this study, we subject three theoretical explanations for this counterintuitive finding to additional empirical testing utilizing the new Threat and Imposition of Economic Sanctions (TIES) data. Somewhat surprisingly, the analyses using these new data support the intuition of policymakers; that is, multilateral sanctions do appear to work more frequently than do unilateral sanctions. Our results do support one theoretical arguments, based on spatial models, that we test. This explanation holds that whether multilateral or unilateral sanctions are more effective depends on the number of issues at stake and on whether an international institution is involved. Our analyses provide support for these hypotheses.
The emplacement of the Karoo Large Igneous Province (LIP) occurred synchronously with the Toarcian crisis (ca. 183 Ma), which is characterized by major carbon cycle perturbations. A marked increase ...in the atmospheric concentration of CO
(pCO
) attests to significant input of carbon, while negative carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) in marine and terrestrial records suggest the involvement of a
C-enriched source. Here we explore the effects of pulsed carbon release from the Karoo LIP on atmospheric pCO
and δ
C of marine sediments, using the GEOCLIM carbon cycle model. We show that a total of 20,500 Gt C replicates the Toarcian pCO
and δ
C proxy data, and that thermogenic carbon (δ
C of -36 ‰) represents a plausible source for the observed negative CIEs. Importantly, an extremely isotopically depleted carbon source, such as methane clathrates, is not required in order to replicate the negative CIEs. Although exact values of individual degassing pulses represent estimates, we consider our emission scenario realistic as it incorporates the available geological knowledge of the Karoo LIP and a representative framework for Earth system processes during the Toarcian.
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