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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Market Mechanisms And Price Volatility In New York Electricity Markets, Kimberly Blecich Jun 2013

Market Mechanisms And Price Volatility In New York Electricity Markets, Kimberly Blecich

Honors Theses

The past two decades have born witness to a cascade of new legislation and market design measures to restructure the United States’ electric power industry from price-setting regulatory agencies to competitive markets. Deregulation was intended to increase competition and improve market efficiency while preserving the reliability of the transmission system. Results have varied in success, and deregulation has invariably led to an increase in both the overall price level of electricity and volatility of those prices. Investigating these deregulation consequences is crucial for market operations and retrospective analyses of deployed mechanism outcomes. The objective of this study is to extend …


Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater: Treatment Methods For Flowback And Produced And Water, Claire Cummins Jun 2013

Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater: Treatment Methods For Flowback And Produced And Water, Claire Cummins

Honors Theses

In order to prevent groundwater contamination that could potentially put millions of human’s health at risk, as well as billions of the federal government’s money on solving the problem, hydraulic fracturing needs to be heavily regulated. This will ensure that hydrofracking is being done in an environmentally responsible way by every natural gas drilling company and not just those who are willing to pay extra for systems and treatment methods that are more expensive but also more effective. The technology for treating hydrofracking wastewater has not been fully developed and would be used a lot more widely throughout the industry …


A Cross-Country Analysis Of Energy Efficient Development, Nicholas Fleagle Jun 2013

A Cross-Country Analysis Of Energy Efficient Development, Nicholas Fleagle

Honors Theses

Maximizing energy efficiency, producing as much as possible with as little energy as possible, is something every country should be working toward. This study measures the efficiency of specific countries by examining the interrelationships that exist among each country’s energy consumption and such measures of development as health, education, income, access to essentials and CO2 emissions. It then analyses why certain countries are more efficient than others and how these inefficient countries can improve. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to generate a cross country comparison of energy efficiency scores over multiple dimensions of development. Pairs of inefficient countries and …


Proton Induced X-Ray Emission Spectrometry Of Atmospheric Aerosols At Piseco Lake, Adam Margulies Jun 2013

Proton Induced X-Ray Emission Spectrometry Of Atmospheric Aerosols At Piseco Lake, Adam Margulies

Honors Theses

Chemical studies of lakes and aerosols in the Adirondack region of New York State have found evidence of environmental pollution resulting in acid rain. We obtained air samples for July and September 2012 from Piseco Lake and analyzed particulate depositions with Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) spectrometry. We detected an array of light elements, including sulfur particulates in the 0.25 - 8 μm range, possibly stemming from coal combustion in the Appalachians and Mid-West of the United States. We also found systematic errors with the accelerator charge integration system due to beam spreading after the beam passes through the target. …


Bird Mortality In The Human Built Environment, Stacie Schwartz Jun 2013

Bird Mortality In The Human Built Environment, Stacie Schwartz

Honors Theses

Human development is having a detrimental effect on bird populations around the world. One hundred million to one billion birds are killed every year from colliding with human-built structures. I explored factors influencing the inability of birds to avoid man-made structures. If we can better understand these reasons, we can find solutions to this problem. After a known bird avoidance method, fritted glass, was installed in the Wold building, I investigated whether this glass actually deters birds from striking windows. Strikes on windows were noted daily through observation of specific windows on campus. Results show that vegetation outside of windows …


The Effect Of Canopy Organization On The Photosynthesis Of Sphagnum, Brian Solinsky Jun 2013

The Effect Of Canopy Organization On The Photosynthesis Of Sphagnum, Brian Solinsky

Honors Theses

With climate change becoming a greater problem the ability of plants to photosynthesize and sequester carbon becomes more important for us to understand. Sphagnum moss stores more than a third of the world’s soil carbon. Much is understood about the physiology of Sphagnum, but what is generally not understood is the effect of variation in canopy organization in Sphagnum: why are they both rough and smooth? This study examined whether different canopy structures influenced how the canopy uses different angles of light for photosynthesis. The first step was modeling photosynthesis in two simulated structures (rough and smooth) as the angle …


An Analysis Of Horizontal Gas Drilling And Its Impact On Spot Market Pricing: A Focus On The Marcellus Shale Production Potential, Samuel O'Connell Jun 2013

An Analysis Of Horizontal Gas Drilling And Its Impact On Spot Market Pricing: A Focus On The Marcellus Shale Production Potential, Samuel O'Connell

Honors Theses

This paper attempts to quantify how the rapid increase in shale gas production in the past fifteen years has impacted regional natural gas spot prices. This method of natural gas extraction-pumping water mixed with sand and clay first vertically and then horizontally, with clay and sand particulates holding fractures open to allow the flow of natural gas-has a shorter well lifespan and faster decline rate than conventional wells. Through analyzing the degree of market integration between shale gas production and spot prices, we can quantify what impact different shale plays have had on the regional pricing of natural gas. With …


Impact Of The Keystone Xl Pipeline On North American Crude Oil Prices, Shawn Ian Stuart Jun 2013

Impact Of The Keystone Xl Pipeline On North American Crude Oil Prices, Shawn Ian Stuart

Honors Theses

This paper determines the economic impact of the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline project. As the Keystone XL pipeline is extremely controversial it is beneficial to determine the impact on North American crude oil prices. Determining the economic impact the Keystone XL pipeline will have on crude oil prices will be a large detriment of whether the pipeline is economically beneficial. By using spot crude prices from different regions around North America and adding capacity of crude oil transmission from western Canada to southeast United States this paper determines the changes in regional spot crude oil prices. As the economic conditions …