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"Last Paper Standing: A Century of Competition Between the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News" by Ken J. Ward explores the rivalry between the two newspapers and the decline of multiple newspaper cities. The book highlights the intense competition between the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, which lasted for over a century. It also delves into the personalities involved and the innovative ways the newspapers differentiated themselves to benefit readers. The author suggests that both newspapers could have coexisted, preserving the high standard of journalism, but ultimately only one newspaper survived. The book emphasizes the importance of preserving good newspapers and the loss that occurs when they fold. [Extracted from the article]

An increasing number of methods are being used to extract rock discontinuities from 3D point cloud data of rock surfaces. In this paper, a new method for automatic extraction of rock discontinuity based on an improved Naive Bayes classifier is proposed. The method first uses principal component analysis to find the normal vectors of the points, and then generates a certain number of random point sets around the selected training points for training the classifier. The trained, improved Naive Bayes classifier is based on point normal vectors and is able to automatically remove noise points due to various reasons in conjunction with the knee point algorithm, realizing high-precision extraction of the discontinuity sets. Subsequently, the individual discontinuities are segmented using a hierarchical density-based spatial clustering method with noise application. Finally, the PCA algorithm is used to complete the orientation by plane fitting the individual discontinuities. The method was applied in two cases, Kingston and Colorado, and the reliability and advantages of the new method were verified by comparing the results with those of previous research, and the discussion and analysis determined the optimal values of the relevant parameters in the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yu's given name is actually Zhuowei Yu, but most people in the mineral community know her as Safaa Yu. This article presents the colored-pencil artwork of Safaa Yu of Littleton, Colorado. So finally 2020 comes, and for a while I had some time to challenge myself a little by using colored pencils (Prismacolor brand).... As I [progress in my art], I really like to work with them and hopefully will explore more with colored pencils in the future. [Extracted from the article]

The remove–compute–restore (RCR) approach is widely used in local quasi-geoid modeling. However, the classical RCR approach usually does not take into account the noise of the satellite-only global gravity field model (GGM), which may lead to a suboptimal result. This paper presents an approach for local quasi-geoid modeling based on spherical radial basis functions that combines local noisy datasets and a noisy satellite-only GGM. This approach includes an RCR procedure using a satellite-only GGM. This is a direct approach that takes the spherical harmonic coefficients of satellite-only GGM as a noisy dataset and includes the corresponding full-noise covariance matrix in the least-squares estimation, aiming to obtain a statistically optimal local quasi-geoid model. The direct approach goes beyond the indirect approach, which treats the height anomalies generated from the satellite-only GGM as a noisy dataset. However, the generated GGM height anomaly dataset is not an equivalent representation of the satellite-only GGM, which may result in the loss of information from the satellite-only GGM. Through mathematical deduction, we demonstrate the theoretical consistency between the direct approach and the indirect approach. The direct approach also has an advantage over the indirect approach in terms of computational complexity due to the simpler algorithm. We conducted a synthetic closed-loop test with a real data distribution in Colorado, and numerical results demonstrated the advantage of the direct approach in local quasi-geoid modeling. In terms of the root mean square of the differences between the predicted values and the true reference values, the direct approach provided an improvement of approximately 14% compared to the indirect approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns elliptic problems involving supercritical Sobolev growth without the (AR) condition and with a mixed boundary Dirichlet-Neumann type condition. The conditions imposed on the nonlinearity considered here generalizes several previous papers, including that presented in the work that inspired this paper, due to Peral and Colorado, in 2003. Beyond that, we present some complementary results, concerning the non-existence of solutions to a class of elliptic problems and a comparison result inspired by the case of Dirichlet boundary conditions, presented by the work of Ambrosetti, Brezis and Cerami. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workforce housing does not reproduce all workers equally. So, what kind of workers does "workforce" housing reproduce? Whose reproduction is prioritized, whose is devalued, and how? A case study of housing access and design in three elite Vail Resorts enclaves in Colorado shows that workforce housing prioritizes the reproduction of a young, flexible androcentric workforce who can be cheaply and easily housed. Extending McIntyre and Nast's theorization of racial subsidies, I argue that resort capital awards unearned gendered subsidies to privileged workers and instantiates what Susanne Soederberg calls "displaced survival," or recursive dislocation, for women workers and those with dependents. I detail how twin processes of displaced survival and gendered subsidy emerge in resort communities using data from interviews, survey, ethnographic observation, autoethnography, and municipal records. By attending to the lived experiences of workers in this niche industry, this paper contributes to literature on geographies of exclusion and expands scholarly understandings of how the gendered political economy of labor is sedimented in housing regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of power grid capacity expansion focuses on adding or modernizing generation and transmission resources to respond to the rise in demand over a long-term planning period. Traditionally, the problem has been mainly viewed from technical and financial perspectives. However, with the rise in the frequency and severity of natural disasters and their dire impacts on society, it is paramount to consider the problem from a nexus of resilience, sustainability, and equity. This paper presents a novel multi-objective optimization framework to perform power grid capacity planning, while balancing the cost of operation and expansion with the life cycle impacts of various technologies. Further, to ensure equity in grid resilience, a social vulnerability metric is used to weigh the energy not served based on the capabilities (or lack thereof) of communities affected by long-duration power outages. A case study is developed for part of the bulk power system in the state of Colorado. The findings of the study show that, by considering life cycle impacts alongside cost, grid expansion solutions move towards greener alternatives because the benefits of decommissioning fossil-fuel-based generation outweigh the costs associated with deploying new generation resources. Furthermore, an equity-based approach ensures that socially vulnerable populations are less impacted by disaster-induced, long-duration power outages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws from data collected from 500+ surveys, distributed twice from the same respondents (2020 and 2021), and forty-five face-to-face interviews (2022). The location studied is a metropolitan county in Colorado (USA). The research examined the discourses and practices having to do with organic and natural food consumption—note, too, the data were collected at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings upend conventional understandings of, and frameworks used to explain, consumer behavior. What are often presented as motivations in prior studies are shown, instead, to be justifications; rationalizations after-the-fact. The paper troubles decision-making frameworks that cast motivations, attitudes, and intentions as "antecedents" to consumer behavior. Rather, the findings point to the significance of social networks, and in particular network diversity, for understanding and explaining the sayings (discourses) and doings (practices) of "individual" consumers. Discourses linked to health are also shown to be salient variables, though when situated within social networks those discourses are shown to have politics. Particular attention is devoted to explaining dietary shifts among those who reported the largest increases in the consumption of organic and natural foods between 2020 and 2021/22. The paper concludes discussing what the data mean from the standpoint of envisioning just and inclusive food system futures and agrifood policy that delivers on those ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A beautiful braid of mathematics, history, and mathematical Olympiads will be presented 'in the flesh.' I will convey 4 stories, each featuring a braid of history, old mathematical papers that often contain unnoticed or little noticed treasures that, once dug out, lend themselves to creating new original problems for mathematical Olympiads. Some of these stories have appeared ([3], [5], [6]); others are waiting for an appearance in the new edition [4], and so you will be able to preview some pages of my future book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire/smoke barriers are designed to isolate building spaces into manageable compartments that resist the spread of fire and/or smoke, but there are situations in which these life-safety barriers are purposely compromised. Firestopping is a construction and postconstruction activity used to maintain the integrity of fire/smoke barriers. The activity of firestopping is typically the responsibility of either the contractor(s) that caused the penetration or a designated specialty contractor whose primary project function is to monitor and remediate barrier penetrations. There has been limited research on the classification and/or quantity of penetrations that are typically installed in the built environment. This case study collected data from the construction of two separate healthcare construction projects along Colorado's Front Range. Results of this case study across both buildings showed that the majority of penetrations were the results of electrical/low-voltage scopes of work, followed by plumbing, mechanical, fire, structural, and pneumatic tube system penetrations. Life-safety barriers are common in certain building types, and penetrating these barriers is often necessary. This paper provided a method and classification for penetrations of these barriers. Being able to classify the type of penetration and responsible party allows contractors and designers the ability to manage the mitigation efforts. This process also provides a benchmark for owners and designers to quantify the impact of barrier penetrations on building design and maintenance requirements. This may result in building designs that minimize the number of penetrations and provide access areas for building operators to easily inspect and maintain these penetrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws from a dataset focusing on two rural communities in Colorado (USA). Data collection occurred over two periods: late‐2019 and again during COVID‐19 lockdowns in mid‐2020. The communities differed demographically: one had a growing minoritized population, especially among its youth; the other was overwhelmingly white. The paper troubles the concept of subjective wellbeing (SWB) as it asks about the productive potentials of discomfort, with assistance from such concepts as colorblind ideology, motivated reasoning, and network homophily. While important to think about so‐called positive emotional states in the context of community development, we must also ask questions like, "SWB for who and at whose expense?" How respondents thought about individual‐ and community‐level SWB had much to do with the social networks they were in. I also explore why the community that fared pandemic‐related disruptions, from a SWB standpoint, better than the other performed worse during this same period from an economic (material) standpoint. Sociological factors explain these dynamics, which are leveraged to enhance our understanding of how to conceptualize community development in productive ways. In sum, I argue that certain expressions of discomfort have value and are therefore necessary for creating resilient, flourishing, and, ultimately, just communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countering human trafficking at a statewide level requires a combination of knowledge from lived experience, inter-sector collaborations, and evidence-based tools to measure progress. Since 2010, the nonprofit Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking (LCHT) has collected and analyzed the data on how partners and organizations across the state work toward ending human trafficking. LCHT uses Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) to measure and illuminate promising paths toward ending human trafficking. Through CBPR, many collaborative working documents and activities have been created: Colorado Action Plans, Policy Recommendations, a Partnership Toolkit, and Partnership Convenings. This paper provides a single case study analysis of the Colorado Project, from 2013 through 2023, and offers a glimpse into the goals for the Colorado Project 2028. The ideas, strengths, and challenges presented here can guide other local efforts to support data-informed responses to trafficking. The CBPR methodology sheds light on the changes in Colorado's anti-trafficking movement and the actions taken on behalf of partnerships (task forces and coalitions) across the state of Colorado. This paper offers a roadmap for collaborative design and decision-making among academic, nonprofit, and public sector partners seeking to conduct research on social movements utilizing a community-engaged process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mine Water & the Environment is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Photovoltaic (PV) power generation has high uncertainties due to the randomness and imbalance nature of solar energy and meteorological parameters. Hence, accurate PV power forecasts are essential in the operation of PV power plants (PVPP) for short-term dispatches and power generation schedules. In this paper, a new deep neural network structure based on vision transformer is proposed to combine sky images and Tokens-To-Token(T2T) for photovoltaic power prediction. The method uses an incremental tokenization module to aggregate neighboring image patches into tokens, which capture the local structural information of the clouds. Then, an efficient T2T-ViT backbone network is used to extract the global attentional relationships of the tokens for power prediction. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed model, the method was compared with several deep learning architectures such as ResNet and GoogleNet on a dataset collected by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, USA. The results of power prediction were analysed using training loss, prediction error, and linear regression, and they show that the proposed method achieves higher prediction accuracy and lower error compared to the existing methods, especially in short- and ultra-short-term prediction. The paper demonstrates the potential of applying Transformer models to computer vision tasks for renewable energy forecasting. The results show that the proposed method achieves higher prediction accuracy and lower error than several deep learning architectures, such as ResNet and GoogleNet, especially in short- and ultra-short-term prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how journalists addressed Kobe Bryant's 2003 rape case as they constructed the basketball star's memory through coverage of his death. Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, was accused of raping a hotel clerk in Colorado; charges were dropped when the woman refused to testify, but the parties reached a civil settlement. This textual analysis examines 488 news stories about Bryant's death, content produced by 18 U.S. news organizations (12 newspapers, two magazines, three online-only publications and a cable broadcast outlet) between Jan. 26 and Oct. 31, 2020. It finds that coverage created a field of discourse that mainly celebrated Bryant for his athletic greatness, as a family man, cultural icon and supporter of women's basketball. The paper argues that, despite the influence of social media and the #MeToo movement, journalists continue to oversimplify and cleanse the narratives of famous men with problematic pasts. The paper calls on journalists to draw from feminist theory and utilize triangulated reporting methods to incorporate marginalized viewpoints when memorializing famous men with problematic pasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfire risk is greatest during high winds after sustained periods of dry and hot conditions. This paper is a statistical extreme-event risk attribution study that aims to answer whether extreme wildfire seasons are more likely now than under past climate. This requires modeling temporal dependence at extreme levels. We propose the use of transformed-linear time series models, which are constructed similarly to traditional autoregressive–moving-average (ARMA) models while having a dependence structure that is tied to a widely used framework for extremes (regular variation). We fit the models to the extreme values of the seasonally adjusted fire weather index (FWI) time series to capture the dependence in the upper tail for past and present climate. We simulate 10 000 fire seasons from each fitted model and compare the proportion of simulated high-risk fire seasons to quantify the increase in risk. Our method suggests that the risk of experiencing an extreme wildfire season in Grand Lake, Colorado, under current climate has increased dramatically relative to the risk under the climate of the mid-twentieth century. Our method also finds some evidence of increased risk of extreme wildfire seasons in Quincy, California, but large uncertainties do not allow us to reject a null hypothesis of no change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to the passage of the 20th amendment to the US Constitution in 1920, several states had extended the suffrage to women. Helen Laura Sumner (later Woodbury), a student of John R. Commons at Wisconsin, undertook a statistical study of the political, economic, and social impacts of the granting of voting rights to women in the state of Colorado, and subsequently defended the results against numerous attacks. In this paper, we present a brief account of the struggle for women's equality in the extension of the suffrage and examine Sumner's critical analysis of the evidence as to its effects, as well as the counterarguments to which she responded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rodent pest species threaten many of the world’s resources, including those in agriculture, urban, and natural environments. Goodnature® A24 rat+stoat self-resetting traps (A24s) are used extensively for invasive rat control in several countries and environments, especially in island ecosystems. Unlike traditional single-set kill traps, A24s fire and reset up to 24 times per CO2 cartridge, and represent a nontoxic device for rodent pest control. Given the rapid rise in use of A24s as a management tool, our goal was to understand why A24s work in some cases and not others. To address this goal, we briefly review A24 literature, and then we: 1) introduce a special issue of A24 effectiveness and hazard studies, and 2) propose future research needs and recommended uses for A24s including a list of potentially susceptible rodent species for which further A24 testing is required. Most papers in the special issue focus on Rattus rattus control on islands in Hawaii and New Zealand. Additionally, A24 effectiveness was compared to toxic bait use against rats in California agricultural landscapes, and snap-traps against house mice (Mus musculus) in Colorado pens. Behavioral studies in this special issue demonstrated that both rats and mice repeatedly visit and pass by A24s much more frequently than they trigger A24s. Some large-scale trapping grids in Hawaiian forests reduced rat populations, but a few endangered birds were unintentionally killed by A24s, which stimulated research on bird excluder attachments for A24s. Understanding the duration of carcass persistence of rats and birds killed by A24s has helped trap users account for unobserved target and non- target kills. Future research may investigate A24 uses on rodent species other than Rattus, as the types of species potentially vulnerable to A24s range in size from mice (e.g., Apodemus, Mus, Peromyscus, Reithrodontomys; ≥ 14 g) to squirrels (e.g., Otospermophilus, Sciurus; 353–527 g). A24s can be used successfully to control rodent populations of some species in particular environments. Studies that compare A24s with alternative and synergistic rodent management methods will help determine the most effective and efficient rodent control methods that minimize non-target risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the importance of forecasting with a high degree of accuracy, the increasing attention has been evolved to combine individual models, especially statistical and intelligent ones. The main aim of such that hybrid models is to extract unique modeling strengths in linear and nonlinear pattern recognition, respectively. Therefore, different hybridization methods are proposed in recent literature for time series forecasting. One of the most widely-used combination strategies applied for numerous forecasting problems to yield more accurate results is the series hybrid strategy. In this hybridization methodology, components of a time series are separated and then modeled sequentially by choosing appropriate single models. However, the most accurate series hybrid model developed by determining the proper arrangement of single models. Thus, one of the critical issues in constructing series hybrid models is how to choose the appropriate sequence of individual models in a sequential modeling procedure. Although it is critically affecting on obtaining more accurate forecasting results, it has not been appropriately discussed in the literature of time series forecasting. Thus, in this paper, the performance of two possible sequence modeling procedures, including linear–nonlinear and nonlinear–linear, are evaluated. For this purpose, autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), support vector machines (SVM), and multilayer perceptrons (MLP) models are chosen due to the popularity of these approaches for developing statistical/intelligent series hybrid models. Five well-known real data sets, e.g., Wolf's Sunspot, Canadian Lynx, British pound/US dollar exchange rate, Nikkei 225 stock price, and the Colorado wind speed, are considered to distinguish better sequences. In this way, the main objective of this paper is to response this unanswered question in the literature that which sequence of single models can lead to obtain much better accuracy in constructing bi-component series hybrid models. Empirical results indicate that choosing the nonlinear intelligent model as first component in sequential modeling procedure can lead to yield more accurate results. Both SVM–ARIMA and MLP–ARIMA models can improve the performance of the ARIMA–SVM and ARIMA–MLP, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the nonlinear–linear series hybrid models may produce more accurate results than linear–nonlinear hybrid models for time series forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the outcomes of a sequence of three-dimensional numerical simulation models conducted in linear cutting mode, employing the LS-DYNA software. The primary objective was to scrutinize the side force values exerted on the gauge cutters. To accomplish this, an assortment of simulation models was meticulously constructed and executed, employing the Lagrange and SPG computational algorithms, along with the JHC and RHT constitutive material models. By comparing the outcomes of these models with the linear cutting experiments documented in the literature, specifically concerning the Colorado red Granite, it was determined that the SPG computational algorithm and the RHT constitutive material model proved to be the most suitable for simulating rock-cutting scenarios. Building upon the chosen computational algorithm and constitutive material model, a series of numerical models was then crafted to simulate the penetration of gauge cutters in both longitudinal and transverse orientations relative to their tips. Subsequently, the applied side forces were extracted, and a statistical model was developed to accurately predict the side forces experienced by the gauge cutters, yielding a coefficient of determination of 93%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, we propose a novel technique for visualizing nonstationarity in geostatistics, particularly when confronted with a single realization of data at irregularly spaced locations. Our method hinges on formulating a statistic that tracks a stable microergodic parameter of the exponential covariance function, allowing us to address the intricate challenges of nonstationary processes that lack repeated measurements. We implement the fused lasso technique to elucidate nonstationary patterns at various resolutions. For prediction purposes, we segment the spatial domain into stationary sub-regions via Voronoi tessellations. Additionally, we devise a robust test for stationarity based on contrasting the sample means of our proposed statistics between two selected Voronoi subregions. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated through simulation studies and its application to a precipitation dataset in Colorado. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ethnohistory of the Colorado River delta has been substantively misunderstood, owing to the widespread neglect and/or misinterpretations of the writings of Francisco Garcés. In 1771, 1774, and 1775–1776, Garcés undertook three entradas into the delta, and wrote a series of valuable ethnographic accounts. Not only have Garcés's locations and routes frequently been misidentified by earlier scholars, his observations on agricultural production and population size have been ignored or marginalized, enabling misconceptions about delta historical demography and adaptation to flourish. The present paper seeks to restore Garcés's accounts, making his locations and ethnographic observation intelligible and interpretable, and to show how these can help resolve extant misconceptions. Part I focuses on some key texts, tying his locations to a master map. Part II focuses on ethnolinguistic groups and settlement sites, discusses the implications for a better understanding of historical demography and agricultural adaptation in the delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining accurate discontinuity information on a tunnel is essential for tunnel stability assessment, and usually requires geological surveys on the tunnel surface. However, traditional manual measurement methods are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and provide limited data, particularly when dealing with complex tunnel rock masses. To address this problem, this paper proposes a method to quickly obtain the point cloud model of the tunnel surface and semi-automatically identify discontinuity using 3D laser scanner. The method is centered on an improved Regional Growth (RG) algorithm, with key principles and processing flow encompassing: (1) Voxel filtering; (2) Normal calculation for point clouds; (3) Improved RG algorithm; (4) Calculation of discontinuity orientation. An analysis of parametric sensitivity which proved its good robustness was carried out to assess the performance of the method. To ascertain the effectiveness of the method in semi-automatically identifying tunnel discontinuities, three sets of test data (standard cube, rock slope in Colorado, and Xulong hydroelectric station tunnel) were chosen. By comparing the analysis results of the proposed method with those of alternative methods (DSE and CloudCompare), the validation of its efficacy in tunnel discontinuity detection was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principle of reciprocity, called Maxwell–Betti theorem, initially used in mechanics in an elastic structure, establishes a relation of equality between two distinct strains under different loads. In this paper, we extend and apply this principle to flow and solute transport equations in porous media, in order to perform the pollution sources identification in aquifers. We developed general 2D expressions of the reciprocity principle for transient transport problems. This model leads to a linear equations set, with point sources coordinates, concentrations and associated water fluxes as unknowns The proposed model is then applied to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal aquifer (Konikow in Modeling Chloride Movement in the Alluvial Aquifer at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado. Technical Report Water-Supply Paper 2044, USGS, 1979), where polluted water is injected into a well in the domain. The used inverse technique successfully recovered the position and the pollutant concentration in addition to the associated water flux. In addition, we developed and implemented the inverse method for different knowledge levels of the degrees of the aquifer contamination, i.e. more or less data available in the field. Multiple pollution point sources and noisy data situations are also developed and tested with high efficiency. The proposed method would be easy and useful to be implemented in the modeling software now widely used by researchers and groundwater managers. It can thus be applied in real case studies, to help authorities and regulators to efficiently identify the polluters and the contamination process, i.e. its location, onset, duration and the associated mass and water fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists keep a limited arsenal of methods for dating stone features at alpine sites. Radiocarbon (14C) dating is rarely possible, and it is common that dates do not accurately represent the activity of interest (stone feature construction). In this paper I review a legacy set of 89 14C dates for stone driveline sites built by hunter-gatherers in Colorado's Southern Rocky Mountains. I amend the sample of dates using chronometric hygiene and focus on dates with direct association to hunting features. I then present a newly calibrated set of 29 lichenometric dates for rock features at these sites and use hygiene protocols to remove inaccurate dates. Size-frequency lichenometry, though poorly known in archaeology, provides a way to date stone features indirectly by measuring the growth of long-lived lichens that colonize rock surfaces after construction events. Bayesian modeling of the combined set of dates suggests that the tradition of alpine game driving spans over 6000 years BP, with abundant use over the last 2000 years. Archaeologists must use multiple methods for dating stone features in alpine environments. This Bayesian analysis is a formal effort to combine lichenometry and 14C dating for archaeological interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground‐level ozone (O3) was unusually high in northern Colorado in the summer of 2021 with maximum daily 8‐hr average (MDA8) concentrations 6 to 8 parts‐per‐billion by volume (ppbv) higher than in 2019, 2020, or 2022. One or more of the monitors on the Colorado Front Range exceeded the 2015 U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of 70 ppbv on 66 of the 122 days from 1 June to 30 September, and this record number of exceedances coincided with the near daily presence of dispersed smoke haze from wildfires in Arizona, California, and the Pacific Northwest. In this paper, we use regulatory and non‐regulatory surface O3 and PM2.5 measurements in conjunction with ground‐based lidar observations to estimate how much O3 was associated with the wildfire smoke. Analyses of the surface measurements suggest that pyrogenic O3 transported to northern Colorado with the smoke increased the surface concentrations in northern Colorado by an average of 8 ppbv in July, 3 ppbv in August, and 2 ppbv in September. Analysis of the lidar measurements showed these contributions to be as large as 12 ppbv on some days. Production of O3 from reactions of pyrogenic VOCs and locally emitted NOx appears to have been minimal (<3 ppbv) in the Boulder area, but may have been much larger in the suburbs southwest of downtown Denver. Plain Language Summary: Northern Colorado experienced unusually poor air quality in the summer of 2021 with frequent high ozone (O3) episodes and hazy skies caused by smoke from wildfires in Arizona, California, and the Pacific Northwest. In this study, we use surface and lidar measurements to explore the connection between the two. Our analysis suggests that the unusually high O3 was caused primarily by a combination of O3 transported to Colorado with the wildfire smoke and enhancement of local photochemical production by unusually clear skies and warm temperatures coupled with weak winds that led to localized O3 accumulations and fewer than normal thunderstorms that might otherwise have dispersed the O3. Production of O3 by reactions of locally emitted NOx with VOCs in the wildfire smoke may also have been significant in Southwest Denver. Key Points: The impacts of the 2021 western wildfires on ozone in the Denver metropolitan area and rural northern Colorado in 2021 are examinedOzone transported in the smoke from distant wildfires increased the 8‐hr concentrations in northern Colorado by an average of 8 ppbv in JulyUnusual meteorology, including fewer thunderstorms, allowed ozone produced locally to accumulate along the foothills west of Denver [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representativeness and quality of collected meteorological data impact accuracy and precision of climate, hydrological, and biogeochemical analyses and predictions. We developed a comprehensive Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) statistical framework, consisting of three major phases: Phase I—Preliminary data exploration, i.e., processing of raw datasets, with the challenging problems of time formatting and combining datasets of different lengths and different time intervals; Phase II—QA of the datasets, including detecting and flagging of duplicates, outliers, and extreme data; and Phase III—the development of time series of a desired frequency, imputation of missing values, visualization and a final statistical summary. The paper includes two use cases based on the time series data collected at the Billy Barr meteorological station (East River Watershed, Colorado), and the Barro Colorado Island (BCI, Panama) meteorological station. The developed statistical framework is suitable for both real-time and post-data-collection QA/QC analysis of meteorological datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives Ageism is oftentimes sugarcoated within humor. Paper birthday cards are 1 delivery approach in which ageist messages are perpetuated and reinforced through humor. Research Design and Methods A convenience sample of birthday cards (k = 227), all indicating a decade of age, were acquired from 7 national retail stores in Colorado Springs, CO. The decades sampled ranged from 21 to 100. With a predeveloped codebook, 3 raters coded the decade birthday cards on various variables, including age group, ageist tone, and humor. Results Birthday cards intended for age 30–60 contained significantly more ageist messages compared to cards intended for age 21 and age 70–100, which did not show a significant difference from each other. Additionally, birthday cards with humor showed more ageist messages than cards without humor. Characteristics of decade birthday cards were also explored. Discussion and Implications Consumers need to learn to evaluate these ageist messages in birthday cards to reduce the perpetuation of damaging stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State policymaking is at the center of many oil and gas related disputes. Driven by the promise of affordable energy, economic development, and new revenues, supporters of oil and gas have pushed for policies designed to nurture the oil and gas industry, whereas opponents have emphasized a myriad of environmental threats and disruptions. Statewide ballot initiatives related to oil gas extraction offer a particularly useful lens to examine the preferences of voters in that states are home to residents who directly and indirectly experience the promises and perils of extraction. This paper examines two ballot initiatives in Colorado from 2018, one of which was supported by the oil and gas industry; the other of which was opposed by the same industry. We find that the inclusion of natural amenities, livelihood, and population change provides a useful set of variables for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ethnohistory of the Colorado River delta has been substantively misunderstood, owing to the widespread neglect and/or misinterpretations of the writings of Francisco Garcés. In 1771, 1774, and 1775–76, Garcés undertook three entradas into the delta, and wrote a series of valuable ethnographic accounts. Not only have Garcés's locations and routes frequently been misidentified by earlier scholars, his observations on agricultural production and population size have been ignored or marginalized, enabling misconceptions about delta historical demography and adaptation to flourish. The present paper seeks to restore Garcés's accounts, making his locations and ethnographic observations intelligible and interpretable, and to show how these can help resolve extant misconceptions. Part I focuses on some key texts, tying his locations to a master map. Part II focuses on ethnolinguistic groups and settlement sites, and discusses the implications for a better understanding of historical demography and agricultural adaptation in the delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new tub girder series for Colorado, conforming to the articles of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. Although the B618 tub girders developed by the Colorado Department of Transportation in the 1990s have been successfully used for decades, the need for an upgrade is essential to satisfy the requirements of contemporary bridge design and construction. After examining the performance of tub girders selected from six transportation agencies in the United States, an optimization algorithm was employed to generate efficient prototype sections. Then, detailed investigations were conducted to examine various practical aspects concerning the serviceability and ultimate limit states of AASHTO LRFD specifications. Parametric analysis with five bridge superstructures that accommodate up to four traffic lanes demonstrated the applicability of the prototype girders. A simplified version of the prototype sections was also delineated for regional precasters. Furthermore, a comparative study was carried out to evaluate the geometric stability and production costs of the prototype, simplified, and existing B618 girders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aria cryogenic distillation plant, located in Sardinia, Italy, is a key component of the DarkSide-20k experimental program for WIMP dark matter searches at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. Aria is designed to purify the argon, extracted from underground wells in Colorado, USA, and used as the DarkSide-20k target material, to detector-grade quality. In this paper, we report the first measurement of argon isotopic separation by distillation with the 26 m tall Aria prototype. We discuss the measurement of the operating parameters of the column and the observation of the simultaneous separation of the three stable argon isotopes: 36 Ar , 38 Ar , and 40 Ar . We also provide a detailed comparison of the experimental results with commercial process simulation software. This measurement of isotopic separation of argon is a significant achievement for the project, building on the success of the initial demonstration of isotopic separation of nitrogen using the same equipment in 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws from a dataset focusing on two rural communities in Colorado (USA). Data collection occurred over two periods: late‐2019 and again during COVID‐19 lockdowns in mid‐2020. The communities differed demographically: one had a growing minoritized population, especially among its youth; the other was overwhelmingly white. The paper troubles the concept of subjective wellbeing (SWB) as it asks about the productive potentials of discomfort, with assistance from such concepts as colorblind ideology, motivated reasoning, and network homophily. While important to think about so‐called positive emotional states in the context of community development, we must also ask questions like, "SWB for who and at whose expense?" How respondents thought about individual‐ and community‐level SWB had much to do with the social networks they were in. I also explore why the community that fared pandemic‐related disruptions, from a SWB standpoint, better than the other performed worse during this same period from an economic (material) standpoint. Sociological factors explain these dynamics, which are leveraged to enhance our understanding of how to conceptualize community development in productive ways. In sum, I argue that certain expressions of discomfort have value and are therefore necessary for creating resilient, flourishing, and, ultimately, just communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first reported Permian (Kungurian to Roadian) palynomorphs are described from Colorado, recovered from bedded gypsum and rare organic-rich shale intercalated in the red siltstone-dominated Lykins and State Bridge Formations. Surprisingly, these units generally lack the taeniate, saccate pollen that typifies most Permian continental rocks elsewhere, yet they contain abundant terrestrially derived palynomacerals, a low-diversity suite of sphaeromorph and acanthomorph acritarchs, and extremely rare non-taeniate, bissacate pollen grains. Acritarchs, known from one stratigraphic interval, are well-preserved and interpreted to represent autochthonous deposition during a marine incursion into the depocenter. This interpretation is consistent with their occurrence in a gray mudstone that is mantled by a mollusk-dominated coquina that bears conodonts, palaeoniscoid scales, and actinopterygian teeth. In contrast, most studied samples are dominated by wood fragments, charcoal, cuticles, and unidentified phytoclasts--all interpreted to represent dispersed plant cuticle and wood of continental origin. Fossils occur in black paper shale, gray fetid calcareous siltstone, and rhythmically bedded gypsum that is closely associated with thin limestone. Palynofacies analyses suggest that non-acritarch palynomacerals were deposited in dysoxic to anoxic waters that received minimal suspended terrigenous input. When combined with sedimentologic information, these non-acritarch fossils are hypothesized to have been deposited in shallow epicontinental lake-like settings that were periodically alkaline, hypersaline, and/or emergent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to advance the current research on the new super diverging diamond interchange (Super DDI) design by evaluating the safety performance of its two versions (super DDI-1 and super DDI-2) using real-field data. Three interchanges were selected in Denver metro, Colorado as the potential candidates to model for future retrofit. This study considered four interchange designs (i.e., existing diamond, DDI, super DDI-1, and super DDI-2) to assess the safety performance using the combination of VISSIM, Synchro, and SSAM analyzing tools. Several microsimulation models (120 scenarios with 600 runs in total) were created with three peak hours (AM, Noon, and PM) for existing (the year 2020) and projected (the year 2030) traffic volumes. Based on the results, both super DDI versions showed high potential in improving safety. As an important finding from this research, super DDI designs outperformed DDI when considering adjacent signals, while DDI performed apparently similar or sometimes even insignificantly better compared to super DDI if no adjacent intersections were located in the vicinity and if the demand was lower than DDI's capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires are increasing in scale, frequency and longevity, and are affecting new locations as environmental conditions change. This paper presents a dataset collected during a community evacuation drill performed in Roxborough Park, Colorado (USA) in 2019. This is a wildland–urban interface community including approximately 900 homes. Data concerning several aspects of community response were collected through observations and surveys: initial population location, pre-evacuation times, route use, and arrival times at the evacuation assembly point. Data were used as inputs to benchmark two evacuation models that adopt different modelling approaches. The WUI-NITY platform and the Evacuation Management System model were applied across a range of scenarios where assumptions regarding pre-evacuation delays and the routes used were varied according to original data collection methods (and interpretation of the data generated). Results are mostly driven by the assumptions adopted for pre-evacuation time inputs. This is expected in communities with a low number of vehicles present on the road and relatively limited traffic congestion. The analysis enabled the sensitivity of the modelling approaches to different datasets to be explored, given the different modelling approaches adopted. The performance of the models were sensitive to the data employed (derived from either observations or self-reporting) and the evacuation phases addressed in them. This indicates the importance of monitoring the impact of including data in a model rather than simply on the data itself, as data affects models in different ways given the modelling methods employed. The dataset is released in open access and is deemed to be useful for future wildfire evacuation modelling calibration and validation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to share our pedagogical evolution as graduate faculty in relationship with increasingly diverse cohort communities of early childhood professionals learning across the landscape of leadership roles engaged with young children, families, and other adults. The early childhood leadership program described in this paper offers a graduate certificate where annually, a cohort of 18-22 early childhood professionals from across Colorado in the United States learn together for 13 months. As faculty, we share a strong commitment to both learning about our teaching and to inviting student voices, the early childhood professionals, through dialogic processes in participatory study as we co-learn and grow our practices of learning and teaching. This paper introduces and explores four leadership learning design principles: (1) identity and agency, (2) socially constructed pedagogy, (3) contextually relevant learning experience, and (4) appreciative stance. As we go, the story will unfold around how we engaged cohort members of the 2019-2020 program year through initial survey reflections and then deepening our shared understanding of these leadership learning design principles through iterations of dialogue after the program was concluded. We end the paper with reflections on how this process of study has ultimately brought us to an awareness and eagerness to engage in relational forms of inquiry, placing student voices at the center with even more intention and depth.

This paper will contribute to our understanding of the Block, its pedagogical rationale and value, and explain why, apart from pandemic conditions, these might constitute a compelling alternative to traditional academic calendars. Current research highlights the need for further research on the nature of the Block, driven by an increased global focus on student outcomes and retention in Higher Education. This paper offers five case studies from institutions that have adopted a version of the Block at some time over the last 50 years. The authors seek to define the features that comprise block courses whereas the nature and functionality distinguish blocks from other intensive formats. A survey of the limited literature on this topic was based on theoretical underpinnings offered by one-course-at-a-time delivery, scholarship of teaching and learning on compressed education, and experiential learning. Using the research question, "Other than scheduling alternatives, what does the block offer HE institutions?", this project uses research that is qualitative in nature drawing on a controlled comparison of case studies which enables a cross-institutional evaluation. The case studies explain why each institution adopted the Block, how these schedules work, and discusses the challenges and affordances of teaching in this intensive format. First findings of this cross-institutional exploration suggest that blocks are unique in their delivery, often experiential in nature, and effective in their outcomes. The various versions of the Block described within, provide ongoing transformative models of teaching philosophy, curriculum, student success, and more.

This paper explores the rhetoric of the Fort restaurant, located in Morrison, Colorado. The Fort conveys a rhetorical phenomenon I refer to as "frontier authenticity rhetoric" and embodies the rhetorical characteristics of a museum to (re)present a historical 1833 fur trading post, the Old Bent Fort. Using components of the frontier myth, authenticity, commodification, and Whiteness theory, I conduct an archival and spatial analysis of memory and material culture of the Fort's rhetoric. I argue the Fort's frontier authenticity rhetoric maintains collective memories of settler colonialism through origin seeking, essentialized frontier metaphors of an "ideal" American identity, and flawed senses of multicultural hospitality undercut by Whiteness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Counseling psychologists have been at the forefront of social justice and advocacy efforts in the discipline of psychology. Despite these foci, few graduate training programs in psychology offer formal courses or training in advocacy, social justice, and public policy. To develop and fill a pipeline of professionals involved in social justice and advocacy efforts, graduate training programs in psychology must expose and prepare students to these areas. The purpose of the current paper is to describe how faculty within the professional psychology program at the University of Denver incorporate advocacy, public policy, and social justice education and training into their program. We describe how the program climate and curriculum were created to meet these training needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind speed prediction is a complex task in the field of wind energy resource forecasting. For prediction, highly nonlinear temporal features are required for wind speed time series, which are highly variable data sources. In this paper, a two-stage fuzzy nonlinear fusion model is proposed for the utmost short-term wind speed prediction problem of 5 and 15 min ahead. First, empirical mode decomposition decomposes the wind speed time series, and the resulting intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) are employed as features in the later modeling study. The first stage of modeling follows. Each IMF feature is fed into one of the three sub-models of the T-S fuzzy model based on triangle, fuzzy C-mean clustering, and Gaussian, yielding three prediction outputs. The second stage is then modeled, which takes advantage of the IT2-based nonlinear aggregation mechanism to overcome the inherent flaws of single methods and linear combinations. Finally, two real cases from wind farms in Colorado, USA, are analyzed to demonstrate the validity of the TFG-IT2 model. The prediction effect of various approaches was measured using three assessment indicators and a statistical test. The simulation results reveal that the TFG-IT2 model outperforms the other seven models in terms of prediction accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first reported dinosaur discovery within the borders of Colorado was found during Ferdinand V. Hayden's U.S. Government sponsored survey to explore the Territories of Colorado and New Mexico. In 1869 the survey team brought back to Washington D.C. a broken caudal vertebral bone collected in the high Rocky Mountains. The bone was given to Joseph Leidy Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania who noted the fossil's shared similarity to early dinosaur discoveries previously made in France and England. He formally named the fossil dinosaur; Antrodemus valens. Despite being the first dinosaur discovery within the borders of Colorado, the occurrence of this fossil fell into obscurity, as by the twentieth century paleontologists had recognized that the fossilized bone was of the better known theropod dinosaur Allosaurus. In the 150 years since, this mountainous region of Colorado has yielded few discoveries of dinosaurs and the location of this obscure initial discovery has remained a geological mystery. This paper reviews the available archival evidence regarding the events leading to the discovery of Colorado's first dinosaur in an attempt to relocate its original discovery site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescent sexual violence (SV), which includes non-contact verbal sexual harassment (SH) and forced sexual contact (FSC), is a significant public health problem with long-term impacts on health and well-being. Understanding how sports participation is linked to SV can inform prevention efforts; however, the current literature is unclear about the nature of this association. Using data from 20 high schools, we investigate whether athletes in certain sports are at higher risk of SH and FSC perpetration than either other athletes or sports non-participants, and whether the risk is moderated by gender, dismissiveness of SV, or substance use intentions. We also utilize social network data to explore the role of relationships with peers and trusted adults to attenuate SH and FSC perpetration. Second, we incorporate characteristics of friends to further examine the role and composition of peer groups in the association between sports participation and perpetration of SH and FSC. Findings revealed a bivariate association between sport contact level and SH perpetration, but not FSC, and the association disappeared after adjusting for other covariates. Most prominently, dismissiveness of SV, intentions to use substances, and prior perpetration had the strongest association with perpetration regardless of sport contact level. Results also provided some support for the influence of peers and trusted adults in the sports context. Notably, the percentage of friends who perpetrated FSC and the percentage of friends who play a low-contact sport were positively associated with FSC perpetration, and the percentage of friends who play a high-contact sport was positively associated with SH perpetration. The paper concludes with a discussion of the sports context as an important venue for comprehensive prevention efforts, including a focus on changing norms around adolescent SV and substance use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Major cities located in the Colorado River Basin (CRB) rely on incentive‐based policies to address water use and supply reliability challenges, through programs provided by cities themselves, by state and federal agencies, and by NGOs. This review examines water use trends across cities, the phenomena of declining per capita use, and finds that most large cities have adopted municipal rate structures designed to incentivize lower use. A number of urban areas provide incentives to use gray water and effluent for outdoor use and to harvest rainwater. Incentive‐based programs to protect watershed health have become a water supply strategy implemented through programs and partnerships across the CRB. The paper concludes by reviewing the ways that incentive‐based urban water policies are being evaluated, and by providing guidelines for designing and evaluating programs to reduce urban use and protect watersheds that provide urban supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When advocating for policy change, coalitions rely on various elements and strategies of policy narratives, including emotions. However, past research on the Narrative Policy Framework, and more broadly on the policy process, has largely ignored the role of emotions. This paper argues that emotions, such as anger and fear, are central to how coalitions advocate for policy change. It explores the role of anger and fear in policy narratives by examining the oral testimony (n = 474) given over four legislative committee hearings in March 2019 concerning Colorado Senate Bill 19‐181. This bill changed the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to prioritize protecting the environment and public health over oil and gas development. This research finds the coalition that successfully supported the bill used anger towards the oil and gas industry, while those that opposed the bill relied more on fear of the uncertain consequences of the bill. It also finds the coalition that opposed the bill relied on self‐characterization as heroes and victims, which was a failed strategy. The implications for this research on the Narrative Policy Framework and, more broadly, for the policy process and advocacy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovations in fnancial technology have enabled nonbank frms to market, originate, and service consumer loans entirely online via web-based lending platforms. These online lenders promote themselves as a faster, disintermediated alternative to traditional lending that leverages technology to provide borrowers with convenient and near-instantaneous access to a wider variety of credit products. Yet despite its claimed advantages, the online lending industry remains perpetually entangled in litigation and controversy surrounding its prevailing business model. Most prominently, lawmakers, regulators, and courts are sharply divided as to whether online lending platforms should be able to escape otherwise applicable state usury laws by "partnering" with chartered depository institutions to originate high-interest loans. Experts also question the (mis)alignment of incentives between parties at each stage of the lending process, particularly given that the online lender performs a traditionally bank-like role in the transaction but typically bears no economic interest in the loans it originates. In response, this Note argues that a recent settlement between Colorado authorities and two online lenders offers a uniquely practicable template for resolving these interrelated challenges by applying pressure to the incentive mechanisms that lead online lenders to originate high-risk--and therefore high-interest--loans that state usury laws would ordinarily prohibit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the state of Colorado has experienced extreme wildfire events that have degraded forest and watershed health and devastated human communities. With expanding human development and a changing climate, wildfire activity is likely to increase, and wildfire management agencies will be challenged to sustain landscapes and the ecosystem services they provide. A critical element of the United States' federal-, state-, and local-level multiagency wildfire response is the interagency dispatching system, which facilitates the ordering, mobilization, and tracking of firefighting resources to and from wildfire incidents—a role that is likely to increase in both importance and workload in the future. Given increasing demands, it is worth considering ways to improve efficiencies, capacity, and capability within the current Colorado dispatching system. With this, the Rocky Mountain Coordinating Group (RMCG) and the Rocky Mountain Area Fire Executive Council (RMA-FEC) sought to reorganize the dispatching system, beginning with exploration of changes to dispatching zone boundaries and the number and location of dispatching centers throughout the state. Here we describe a multiyear research–management partnership with the RMCG and RMA-FEC to apply a structured decision-making process to guide this reorganization effort. We highlight the steps used in a participatory process that involved local decision makers and included iteratively revising and clarifying the problem statement, developing objectives and translating them into measurable attributes, building a multiobjective optimization model to generate and compare alternatives, and communicating a recommended alternative that was ultimately adopted. To conclude, we discuss insights from our experience and highlight opportunities for similar work to support efficient wildfire management elsewhere in the United States. History: This paper has been accepted for the Decision Analysis Special Issue on Decision Analysis to Advance Environmental Sustainability. Funding: This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments worldwide have spent billions of dollars on monetary incentives for consumers to encourage the adoption of eco-friendly ("green") products. However, there is little consensus on the effectiveness of delayed monetary incentives with complex structures, such as tax credits in increasing green product adoption and reducing carbon emissions. The literature is also limited on the mechanisms through which monetary incentives work in general. We address these issues by studying the impact of tax credit incentives on green and nongreen vehicle sales in the U.S. auto industry. A tax credit incentive could boost green vehicle sales through cost savings on the vehicle's price. However, the incentive may prove ineffective because of important barriers to adoption (e.g., long charging times for electric cars). To measure the sales and emissions impacts of tax credits, we study incentive changes in South Carolina and Oregon via various quasi-experimental approaches and assess the generalizability of our key findings to Colorado. Unlike recent studies showing an insignificant or negative correlation between tax credits and electric vehicle adoption, our analyses show that unit sales of incentivized plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) increase by an average of 3.7% (up to 52.7% in some counties) following a $2,000 incentive. In contrast, PHEV sales remain unchanged after the incentive's termination, implying a positive net sales effect. We also explore the underlying mechanisms for the incentive's impact by examining various purchase funnel stages. In the awareness stage, the incentive's positive effect on PHEV demand peaks around the consumers' tax-filing period. As for the consideration stage, our analyses of online consumer search indicate that the incentive does not expand the consumer pool considering PHEVs. In the conversion stage, the incentive generates more sales for PHEVs in counties where (i) consumers are more likely to have PHEVs in their consideration sets regardless of the incentive (i.e., Democratic counties) and (ii) consumers value cost-saving more (i.e., counties with lower middle income). Also, the heightened demand for PHEVs following the incentive stems from the substitution from gasoline vehicles with high fuel efficiency. We estimate the average cost of reducing carbon emissions through tax credits to be $109 per ton, which is less expensive than tax rebates for conventional hybrids and subsidies for residential solar panels. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, Special Section of Management Science on Business and Climate Change. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4781. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovations in financial technology have enabled nonbank firms to market, originate, and service consumer loans entirely online via web-based lending platforms. These online lenders promote themselves as a faster, disintermediated alternative to traditional lending that leverages technology to provide borrowers with convenient and near-instantaneous access to a wider variety of credit products. Yet despite its claimed advantages, the online lending industry remains perpetually entangled in litigation and controversy surrounding its prevailing business model. Most prominently, lawmakers, regulators, and courts are sharply divided as to whether online lending platforms should be able to escape otherwise applicable state usury laws by "partnering" with chartered depository institu-tions to originate high-interest loans. Experts also question the (mis)alignment of incentives between parties at each stage of the lending process, particularly given that the online lender performs a traditionally bank-like role in the transaction but typically bears no economic interest in the loans it originates. In response, this Note argues that a recent settlement between Colorado authorities and two online lenders offers a uniquely practicable template for resolving these interrelated challenges by applying pressure to the incentive mechanisms that lead online lenders to originate high-risk--and therefore high-interest--loans that state usury laws would ordinarily prohibit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]