Justifying Public Decisions in Arctic Oil and Gas Development: American and Russian Approaches

Government resource decisions in the Arctic typically involve complex issues; multiple criteria are used to choose among alternatives. This complexity is even greater with petroleum development because of concerns about national energy security, environmental impacts, and economic development. Two decision-aiding techniques may help decision makers clarify their decisions to themselves, the stakeholders, and the general public. The Russian qualitative technique seeks to reduce the number of criteria and find alternative options that may be better than the initial ones. The Western quantitative technique seeks to measure the decision maker's judgement about the utility and certainty of each option. These techniques are applied to two case studies: a decision about gas pipeline routing on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, and a tool for evaluating applications for development permits on the North Slope of Alaska. The qualitative method is easier to use and may be the best model for people who use numbers infrequently or want to make a claim based on rights. The quantitative method did well at preserving detail and incorporating uncertainty. Both approaches helped to reduce the apparent complexity of the decisions.Les décisions gouvernementales concernant les ressources dans l'Arctique mettent le plus souvent en jeu des questions complexes; un grand nombre de critères sont utilisés en vue de choisir parmi différentes options. Cette complexité s'accroît dans le cas de l'exploitation pétrolière en raison des problèmes entourant la sécurité nationale de l'énergie, les retombées environnementales et le développement économique. Deux techniques d'aide à la décision peuvent inciter les décideurs à clarifier leurs décisions pour eux-mêmes, pour les parties intéressées et pour le grand public. La technique qualitative russe cherche à réduire le nombre de critères et à trouver des solutions de rechange qui pourraient être meilleures que les mesures initiales. La technique quantitative occidentale cherche à mesurer le jugement du décideur sur l'utilité et la certitude de chaque option. Ces techniques sont appliquées à deux études de cas: une décision concernant le tracé d'un gazoduc dans la presqu'île de Iamal en Russie, et un outil permettant d'évaluer les demandes de permis d'exploitation sur le versant Nord de l'Alaska. La méthode qualitative est plus facile à utiliser et peut être le meilleur modèle pour des individus qui n'ont pas l'habitude des chiffres ou qui veulent établir une revendication fondée sur des droits. La méthode quantitative réussit bien à préserver le détail et à intégrer l'incertitude. Les deux approches aidaient à réduire la complexité apparente des décisions

Justifying Public Decisions in Arctic Oil and Gas Development: American and Russian Approaches

Government resource decisions in the Arctic typically involve complex issues; multiple criteria are used to choose among alternatives. This complexity is even greater with petroleum development because of concerns about national energy security, environmental impacts, and economic development. Two decision-aiding techniques may help decision makers clarify their decisions to themselves, the stakeholders, and the general public. The Russian qualitative technique seeks to reduce the number of criteria and find alternative options that may be better than the initial ones. The Western quantitative technique seeks to measure the decision maker* s judgement about the utility and certainty of each option. These techniques are applied to two case studies: a decision about gas pipeline routing on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, and a tool for evaluating applications for development permits on the North Slope of Alaska. The qualitative method is easier to use and may be the best model for people who use numbers infrequently or want to make a claim based on rights. The quantitative method did well at preserving detail and incorporating uncertainty. Both approaches helped to reduce the apparent complexity of the decisions

Effects of Yoga on Perceived Stress Level and Cognitive Ability in College-Aged Females

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if perceived stress levels and response inhibition scores (measure of cognitive function) differ in female college students who regularly participate in yoga compared to female college students who do not. Methods: College-aged females ranging from 19-24 years of age were recruited to participate in this study. Subjects filled out a personal information sheet followed by a perceived stress level questionnaire to measure the amount of yoga each participant performed and assess their perceived stress level, respectively. Response inhibition and accuracy (cognitive function) were measured via a computerized Stroop Effect test consisting of three modules. The research project implemented a cross-sectional design, with the independent variable being past yoga experience (no previous experience & regular yoga participation) and the dependent variables being perceived stress level and response inhibition (speed & accuracy) score of the Stroop Effect test. Significance was accepted at p ≤0.05. Results: An independent t-test revealed that there were no differences in average reaction time or percent accuracy between yogis and novice yogis. The difference between average perceived stress scores (PSS) in advanced versus novice yogis was approaching significance (p ≤ 0.06). The PSS for novice yogis was 17.28 ± 4.20 while that for advanced yogis was 21.59 ± 7.96. Conclusion: The study concludes that yogis reported higher PSS compared to non-yogis; however, there was no significant difference in cognitive ability between the groups. Future studies should seek to further investigate various measures of cognitive abilities in these populations. Furthermore, more research should be implemented to discern the true effects of yoga on an individual’s perceived stress level

On the Theory of Superfluidity in Two Dimensions

The superfluid phase transition of the general vortex gas, in which the circulations may be any non-zero integer, is studied. When the net circulation of the system is not zero the absence of a superfluid phase is shown. When the net circulation of the vortices vanishes, the presence of off-diagonal long range order is demonstrated and the existence of an order parameter is proposed. The transition temperature for the general vortex gas is shown to be the Kosterlitz---Thouless temperature. An upper bound for the average vortex number density is established for the general vortex gas and an exact expression is derived for the Kosterlitz---Thouless ensemble.Comment: 22 pages, one figure, written in plain TeX, published in J. Phys. A24 (1991) 502

Limited refugia and high velocity range-shifts predicted for bat communities in drought-risk areas of the Northern Hemisphere

Abstract Species occupying semi-arid and dry regions around the globe face an uncertain future due to increases in the frequency and severity of droughts. In this study we modelled the potential effect of climate change on bat communities within two high-drought risk regions of the world and assessed the magnitude and direction of the predicted shifts in climatic suitability, locating climate change refugia and identifying species at greatest risk of population declines. To do this, we compared climate suitability models for 43 species using three global climate models and three emissions scenarios for current (1950–2000) and future (2061–2080) climates within two regions where droughts are predicted to increase, the Western Palaearctic and Western North America. Our models predicted an overall reduction in bat richness with future climates. Areas projected to support high species richness in the current climate coincided with greatest predicted species loss and greatest future drought risk. For species with the potential to extend their range, high velocity range shifts would be required to keep pace with these changes, particularly in the Western Palaearctic, where additional barriers to movement include seas and areas of high human population density. Predicted refugial zones were limited and occurred in similar areas across continents (montane and high latitude with some coastal areas). The area of climate suitability was predicted to contract for around half of study species, with nine identified as species of conservation concern due to low overlap between current and future modelled ranges. The best-case scenario for bat diversity in semi-arid and dry regions in the future is likely to be reduced species richness, with many species facing rapid range expansion over challenging landscapes to access climatically suitable areas. Conservation of bats in high drought risk regions will likely depend on protection of identified refugia and networks of water sources, as well as global measures to protect biodiversity and human wellbeing, such as reduction in global carbon emissions

Electrodynamics with Lorentz-violating operators of arbitrary dimension

The behavior of photons in the presence of Lorentz and CPT violation is studied. Allowing for operators of arbitrary mass dimension, we classify all gauge-invariant Lorentz- and CPT-violating terms in the quadratic Lagrange density associated with the effective photon propagator. The covariant dispersion relation is obtained, and conditions for birefringence are discussed. We provide a complete characterization of the coefficients for Lorentz violation for all mass dimensions via a decomposition using spin-weighted spherical harmonics. The resulting nine independent sets of spherical coefficients control birefringence, dispersion, and anisotropy. We discuss the restriction of the general theory to various special models, including among others the minimal Standard-Model Extension, the isotropic limit, the case of vacuum propagation, the nonbirefringent limit, and the vacuum-orthogonal model. The transformation of the spherical coefficients for Lorentz violation between the laboratory frame and the standard Sun-centered frame is provided. We apply the results to various astrophysical observations and laboratory experiments. Astrophysical searches of relevance include studies of birefringence and of dispersion. We use polarimetric and dispersive data from gamma-ray bursts to set constraints on coefficients for Lorentz violation involving operators of dimensions four through nine, and we describe the mixing of polarizations induced by Lorentz and CPT violation in the cosmic-microwave background. Laboratory searches of interest include cavity experiments. We present the theory for searches with cavities, derive the experiment-dependent factors for coefficients in the vacuum-orthogonal model, and predict the corresponding frequency shift for a circular-cylindrical cavity.Comment: 58 pages two-column REVTeX, accepted in Physical Review

Chittenden County Child Care Providers & Conflict Implementing Sick Child Guidelines

Introduction: Nationwide, 61% of children under age five are enrolled in a form of non-parental care. Problems arise when a child becomes sick and is not able toattend daycare or has to be sent home. Parents must either miss work to care for their child or find someone else to care for them. Since there is stress surrounding taking time off, and because the criteria used to exclude children from child care can be ambiguous, parents may feel that their child doesn’t need to be sent home. Each child care provider has to set up exclusion criteria that meet state licensing requirements. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) developed exclusion guidelines specifically for childcare settings in 2006, but most daycare providers and pediatricians are unaware of its existence. Conflicts occur when there are differences in opinion on the child’s health status between the child care provider and the parents or the child’s pediatrician.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1023/thumbnail.jp

Algebraic analysis of a model of two-dimensional gravity

An algebraic analysis of the Hamiltonian formulation of the model two-dimensional gravity is performed. The crucial fact is an exact coincidence of the Poisson brackets algebra of the secondary constraints of this Hamiltonian formulation with the SO(2,1)-algebra. The eigenvectors of the canonical Hamiltonian $H_{c}$ are obtained and explicitly written in closed form.Comment: 21 pages, to appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio

Electrostatic boundary value problems in the Schwarzschild background

The electrostatic potential of any test charge distribution in Schwarzschild space with boundary values is derived. We calculate the Green's function, generalize the second Green's identity for p-forms and find the general solution. Boundary value problems are solved. With a multipole expansion the asymptotic property for the field of any charge distribution is derived. It is shown that one produces a Reissner--Nordstrom black hole if one lowers a test charge distribution slowly toward the horizon. The symmetry of the distribution is not important. All the multipole moments fade away except the monopole. A calculation of the gravitationally induced electrostatic self-force on a pointlike test charge distribution held stationary outside the black hole is presented.Comment: 18 pages, no figures, uses iopart.st

Patient engagement with antibiotic messaging in secondary care: a qualitative feasibility study of the ‘review & revise’ experience

Background: We aimed to investigate and optimise the acceptability and usefulness of a patient leaflet about antibiotic prescribing decisions made during hospitalisation, and to explore individual patient experiences and preferences regarding the process of antibiotic prescription ‘review & revise’ which is a key strategy to minimise antibiotic overuse in hospitals. Methods: In this qualitative study, run within the feasibility study of a large, cluster-randomised stepped wedge trial of 36 hospital organisations, a series of semi-structured, think-aloud telephone interviews were conducted and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Fifteen adult patients who had experienced a recent acute medical hospital admission during which they had been prescribed antimicrobials and offered a patient leaflet about antibiotic prescribing were recruited to the study. Results: Participants reacted positively to the leaflet, reporting that it was both an accessible and important source of information which struck the appropriate balance between informing and reassuring. Participants all valued open communication with clinicians, and were keen to be involved in antibiotic prescribing decisions, with individuals reporting positive experiences regarding antibiotic prescription changes or stopping. Many participants had prior experience or knowledge of antibiotics and resistance, and generally welcomed efforts to reduce antibiotic usage. Overall, there was a feeling that healthcare professionals (HCPs) are trusted experts providing the most appropriate treatment for individual patient conditions. Conclusions: This study offers novel insights into how patients within secondary care are likely to respond to messages advocating a reduction in the use of antibiotics through the ‘review & revise’ approach. Due to the level of trust that patients place in their care provider, encouraging HCPs within secondary care to engage patients with greater communication and information provision could provide great advantages in the drive to reduce antibiotic use. It may also be beneficial for HCPs to view patient experiences as cumulative events that have the potential to impact future behaviour around antibiotic use. Finally, pre-testing messages about antibiotic prescribing and resistance is vital to dispelling any misconceptions either around effectiveness of treatment for patients, or perceptions of how messages may be received