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There is a growing demand for cleaner energy in the United States and across the globe, and a move away from a reliance on fossil fuels. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA, n.d.), our sources of energy include petroleum (35%), Natural Gas (34%), renewable energy (12%), coal (10%), and nuclear (9%). While natural gas is relatively clean burning, it still will need to be replaced in an effort to meet net-zero carbon demands. This discussion has been the catalyst for energy providers to determine if hydrogen can be the energy source of the future. In this current study, the authors compared natural gas to hydrogen in terms of storage medium availability and gas properties. The analysis provided the data needed to quantitatively model the gases and show technical and economic feasibility. Currently, natural gas is stored underground in domal salt, bedded salt, depleted reservoirs, and depleted aquifers; infrastructure and business models are in place for the transmission and use of natural gas. Because the thermodynamic properties of natural gas and hydrogen differ, it takes three times the amount of hydrogen to provide the same amount of energy as natural gas. This means a greater cost for the operator and, consequently, the consumer. Simulation modeling of gas properties, expert interviews, and qualitative and quantitative analyses revealed that an initial return on investment was estimated to be 160.8%/year for hydrogen gas storage. It was recommended the continued storage of natural gas, but also to invest in research and development of hydrogen, to include the technical feasibility of storage mediums other than domal salt along with infrastructure and transmission needs and the cost of moving from natural gas to hydrogen. Expertise in the fossil fuel industry paves the way for a cleaner future for the energy industry.

Thompson, SW, Lake, JP, Rogerson, D, Ruddock, A, and Barnes, A. Kinetics and kinematics of the free-weight back squat and loaded jump squat. J Strength Cond Res 37(1): 1-8, 2023-The aim of this study was to compare kinetics and kinematics of 2 lower-body free-weight exercises, calculated from concentric and propulsion subphases, across multiple loads. Sixteen strength-trained men performed back squat 1 repetition maximum (1RM) tests (visit 1), followed by 2 incremental back squat and jump squat protocols (visit 2) (loads = 0% and 30-60%, back squat 1RM). Concentric phase and propulsion phase force-time-displacement characteristics were derived from force plate data and compared using analysis of variance and Hedges' g effect sizes. Intrasession reliability was calculated using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CV). All dependent variables met acceptable reliability (ICC0.7; CV10%). Statistically significant 3-way interactions (load × phase × exercise) and 2-way main effects (phase × exercise) were observed for mean force, velocity (30-60% 1RM), power, work, displacement, and duration (0%, 30-50% 1RM) ( p0.05). A significant 2-way interaction (load × exercise) was observed for impulse ( p0.001). Jump squat velocity ( g = 0.94-3.80), impulse ( g = 1.98-3.21), power ( g = 0.84-2.93), and work ( g = 1.09-3.56) were significantly larger across concentric and propulsion phases, as well as mean propulsion force ( g = 0.30-1.06) performed over all loads ( p0.001). No statistically significant differences were observed for mean concentric force. Statistically longer durations ( g = 0.38-1.54) and larger displacements ( g = 2.03-4.40) were evident for all loads and both subphases ( p0.05). Ballistic, lower-body exercise produces greater kinetic and kinematic outputs than nonballistic equivalents, irrespective of phase determination. Practitioners should therefore use ballistic methods when prescribing or testing lower-body exercises to maximize athlete's force-time-displacement characteristics.

Snowball designs are the most natural of the network sampling designs. They have many desirable properties for sampling hidden and hard-to reach populations. They have been under-used in recent years because simple design-based estimators and confidence intervals have not been available for them. The needed estimation methods are supplied in this paper. Snowball sampling methods and accurate estimators with them are needed for sampling of the people exposed to the animals from which new coronavirus outbreaks originate, and to sample the animal populations to which they are exposed. Accurate estimates are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce the risk to the people exposed to the animals. In this way the frequencies of major outbreaks and pandemics can be reduced. Snowball designs are needed in studies of sexual and opioid networks through which HIV can spread explosively, so that prevention intervention methods can be developed, accurately assessed, and effectively distributed., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2002.01350

This chapter explores the inter-relationship between divestment and the Management Buyouts (MBO). Local management is particularly well placed to spot ways of improving performance and thereby raising the potential value of the enterprise. The chapter considers the evolving role of the capital market in facilitating buyouts in general and particularly divestment MBOs. It looks at the development of the study of buyouts before going on to consider their consequences. The chapter also looks in particular at the role of the MBO in corporate refocusing, explores both the pull and push factors that have led so many multiproduct firms to roll back diversification and focuses on their efforts on core activities. Some MBOs display serious weaknesses, especially when credit market conditions worsen leaving indebted businesses in trouble. The chapter reviews the emergence of the freestanding buyout form as an alternative to the division/subsidiary located in a diversified multidivisional form firm.

A new estimation method is presented for network sampling designs, including Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) and Snowball (SB) sampling. These types of link-tracing designs are essential for studies of hidden populations, such as people at risk for HIV. The simple idea behind the new method is to run a fast-sampling process on the sample network data to estimate the inclusion probabilities of the actual survey, and incorporate those in unequal probability estimators of population means and proportions. Improved versions of the usual RDS and SB designs are also proposed, termed RDS+ and SB+, to obtain information on more of the within-sample links. In simulations using the network from the Colorado Springs study on the heterosexual spread of HIV, the new estimators produce in most cases lower bias and lower mean square than current methods. For the variables having the largest mean square errors with current estimators, the improvement with the new estimator is dramatic. The estimates are improved even more with the enhanced design versions. For estimating the population mean degree, the efficiency gains using he new method are 29 for RDS, 54 for RDS+, 26 for SB and 80 for SB+. This means for example, with the ordinary RDS design, the mean square error with the new estimator, same data, is 1/29 that of currently used estimators. The new method is computationally intricate but is fast and scales up well. The new estimation method can be used to re-analyze existing network survey data. For new network sampling studies, it is recommended to use the improved designs as well as the new estimators.

Phylogenetic tree of maize accessions in Association Panel. Neighbor-joining tree of 300 maize accessions representing Association Panel. Three subgroups (stiff stalk, non-stiff stalk, and tropical germplasm) identified from the tree were color-coded. (PPTX 108 kb)

Physical boundaries of intervals supporting GWAS-detected gray leaf spot resistance QTL. Using sequence information of GWAS-detected SNP markers associated with GLS resistance QTL and the public IBM2 2008 Neighbors map ( http://www.maizegdb.org/data_center/map ), corresponding chromosomal bins were identified. Physical and genetic lengths of a chromosomal bin were calculated by subtracting the physical (bp) and genetic (cM) coordinates of public markers flanking a bin where GLS resistance QTL resided. As not every flanking marker had a physical position in the public map, the closest marker with known physical positions was designated as the flanking marker. Support intervals for GWAS detected QTL were identified to be 7.5 cM from each side of a marker. Physical length of a QTL support interval = (physical length of a bin) /(genetic length of a bin)*7.5 cM. Physical boundaries of a QTL support interval = physical position of a SNP marker associated with GWAS detected QTL ± physical length of a QTL support interval. (DOCX 22 kb)

Analysis of the population structure within the set of 300 maize inbred lines used for the GWAS study. Estimated LnP(D) and Delta K averaged over five repeats of STRUCTURE analysis. (DOCX 67 kb)

Description of the development of SBayes method to carry out Genome-wide Association Study. (DOCX 153 kb)

This Paper examines the impact of mergers and acquisitions on the remuneration of the CEOs in a large unbalanced panel of UK firms, over the period 1981-96. We find significant and substantial executive pay increases in excess of those generated by the growth in firm size consequent upon the merger. This is consistent with the view that mergers reveal information about the quality of management that is useful to the firm’s remuneration committee. Executive pay is, however, nine times more sensitive to internal growth than to growth as a result of acquisition. Furthermore, there is some evidence that hostile transactions generate smaller pay effects than friendly deals, probably because they are followed, at some remove, by size-reducing divestments. When mergers are distinguished by their impact on shareholder wealth we find that CEOs engaging in ‘bad’ (ie wealth-reducing) acquisitions experience significantly lower remuneration than their counterparts whose deals meet with market approval. This result suggests that shareholder-principals have at least some success in penalising managers for unwarranted empire-building mergers.

Books Reviewed include: Agricultural Trade and Natural Resources by J. D. Sutton and Lynne Rienner; Agricultural Policies and World Markets by Alex F. McCalla and Timothy E. Josling