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Insights and Reflections about Cold Front


  • Today, I learned that cold front is defined as the leading edge of a cooler mass of air, replacing (at ground level) a warmer mass of air, which lies within a fairly sharp surface trough of low pressure. It forms in the wake of an extratropical cyclone, at the leading edge of its cold air advection pattern, which is also known as the cyclone's dry conveyor belt circulation.
  • I will apply my learnings about this phenomenon in a way that when we are experiencing a cold front, I know a little bit about it.
  • Learnings about this phenomenon are important because it is a natural phenomenon which we are experiencing often.
  • On a larger scale, I will share my learning about this phenomena to help other people be more aware on different circumstances that happen in our environment.
  • I need to know more about how can we not be much affected when this phenomena is happening. 

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Insights and Reflections about Low Pressure Area


  • Today, I learned that low-pressure arealow or depression, is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure systems form under areas of wind divergence which occur in upper levels of the troposphere. The formation process of a low-pressure area is known as cyclogenesis
  • I will apply my learnings about this phenomenon in a way that when a low pressure area hits our country, I know a little bit information about it and how can it affects us.
  • Learnings about this phenomenon are important because it is a natural phenomenon that hits our country often.
  • On a larger scale, I will share my learning about this phenomena to help other people be more aware on different circumstances that happen in our environment.
  • I need to know more about how can we not be much affected when this phenomena is happening. 

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Insights and Reflection about "First things first."

           What are "first things?" First things are those things you, personally, find of most worth. If you put first things first, you are organizing and managing time and events according to the personal priorities you established.
         To live a more balanced existence, you have to recognize that not doing everything that comes along is okay. There's no need to overextend yourself. All it takes is realizing that it's all right to say no when necessary and then focus on your highest priorities. 
         This is an attitude that every individual must follow to be organize on what he will do. Keeping this quotation in mind will keep you more focus on what your priorities are. This means that do things in the proper order. Do first the things that are important before some unnecessary stuffs. Do not skip things that you should do first to avoid cramming.
       As a science class student, I should know my priorities. I should also how to make things well-organized. We should use our time wisely. We should avoid the things that are not needed in our daily lives. We should avoid the things that distract us on doing our duties or tasks. ♥


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ENERGY


In the late 1970s, Resources for the Future produced a set of landmark studies on America’s energy situation. Many of the studies’ major points remain as cogent today as they were then, including the dangers of “picking winners” among competing energy technologies, the need to take into account the full costs associated with different technology options, and the importance of the right price signals.
High prices, the climate challenge, and concern about geostrategic implications of U.S. dependence on oil, have placed energy once again near the top of the public agenda.   RFF research on energy focuses on key sectors, including electric power, transportation, and agriculture, as well as evaluating policy options to promote the development and implementation of new technologies.

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ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION



Analysis of regulations cuts across Resources for the Future, whether looking at regulations to address energy use, air and water quality, fisheries management, transportation, or energy use, among many other issues.
RFF research has made significant contributions to the development of incentive-based regulatory approaches and improved techniques for measuring the costs and benefits of regulation. In applied settings, RFF scholars have analyzed the performance of specific regulatory programs and performed comparative studies of different regulatory approaches, as well as alternatives to regulation like voluntary programs and public disclosure efforts.

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Function Discontinuity Detection and Location


Graphics systems do not generally provide primitives for drawing general smooth curves. The most commonly used technique is to approximate the curve by a connected piece wise straight-line "polyline".
In R the curve defined by the function f over the interval [a,b] could be drawn as follows.
x = seq(a, b, length = 1000)
y = f(x)
plot(x, y, type = "n")
lines(x, y)
If the function f is discontinuous this approach fails (e.g. consider the function f(x) = 1/x on the interval [-1,1]).
The purpose of this topic is to explore techniques for automatically detecting and locating function discontinuities and drawing the function over the intervals between the discontinuities.
The project could be taken further by developing methods for detecting and locating sharp "corners" in a function's graph. This amounts to finding the discontinuities in the derivative f'(x).
To take on this project you will need to be a competent R programmer (i.e. have completed or be doing 782) and be familiar with notions like "discontinuity", "derivative", "smooth" etc.

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AIR QUALITY



Despite significant progress of over the last three decades, air quality remains a significant environmental problem in the U.S. and other developed countries.  With low-cost emission reductions strategies already in place and epidemiological evidence showing a greater threat from air pollutants than previously recognized, regulators are struggling to find the tools to make continued improvements in air quality.
Current research at Resources for the Future assesses the costs and benefits of air quality regulations and examines the potential for innovative regulatory approaches, like incentive-based mechanisms, to achieve reductions fairly and efficiently. Increasingly RFF researchers are turning their attention to policy in developing countries, where urban air quality often poses a serious health threat.

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