Hydropower resources at risk: The status of hydropower regulation and development - 1997

This report documents today`s hydropower licensing and development status based on published data as follows: (a) Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) databases, maintained by FERC`s Office of Hydropower Licensing, of: (1) operating FERC-regulated projects, federal projects, and known unlicensed projects; (2) surrendered licenses; and, (3) recent licensing and relicensing actions; (b) Energy Information Administration (EIA) data on installed capacity and generation from 1949 through 1995 for the various resources used to produce electricity in the U.S.; and, (c) FERC licensing orders, and environmental assessments or environmental impact statements for each individual project relicensed since 1980. The analysis conducted to prepare this paper includes the effects of all FERC hydropower licensing actions since 1980, and applies those findings to estimate the costs of hydropower licensing and development activity for the next 15 years. It also quantifies the national cost of hydropower regulation. The future estimates are quite conservative. The are presented in 1996 dollars without speculating on the effects of future inflation, license surrenders, conditions imposed through open-ended license articles, license terms greater than 30 years, or low water years. Instead, they show the most directly predictable influences on licensing outcomes using actual experiences since ECPA (after 1986)

The Impact of Global Value Chains on the Retention of Staff in Chinese SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent ninety-nine percent of China’s registered enterprises, yet they remain a much under researched phenomenon. In addition our knowledge of what constitutes human resource management (HRM) in Chinese enterprises is skewed, in that the majority of research is largely positivist and relies on responses from a single respondent, normally a manager. To respond to these lacuna this study is situated in six SMEs, all based in China, all supplying Buyer Driven Value Chains and all employing internal migrant workers. This marginalised group of migrant workers are the secret ingredient behind China’s economic miracle, which has historically relied on a largely passive, socially unequal workforce to underpin the cost effectiveness of the program of export orientated industrialisation (EOI), which has led to it being described as the workshop of the world. The study takes a longitudinal, qualitative, multi-stakeholder approach and utilising an inductive, social constructionist ontology has generated new insights into our knowledge of what constitutes the world of work from the perspective of the participants in it. Institutional and cultural influences are key determinants which impact the industrial relations process and practices, for example the Open Door and One Child policies and the pervasive cultural influence of guanxi, which are all evident in the empirical evidence. This study fills gaps in our knowledge and shows the construct of HRM is well understood in China. All practices are in use with subtle nuances, with the exception of appraisal, as it is culturally challenging, in that it is the opposite of the cultural preference of saving face. The study considers and contributes to the debate around global value chains (GVCs). Empirical evidence from the study clearly shows the asymmetrical patterns of power, in which lead firms keep a tight control on costs and concomitantly push risk further down the chain, which impedes their supplier’s ability to use HRM to aid staff retention

Inclusive growth: the challenges of multidimensionality and multilateralism

The two decades either side of the global financial crisis have seen a remarkable surge and an equally remarkable reaction to global inequalities. This has played some part in fuelling the recent populist backlash against globalisation. In response, many global institutions and some national governments have embraced the concept of inclusive growth – proposing a policy agenda designed to share the benefits of economic growth and development more equitably. This paper argues that the current debate about inclusivity suffers from two major misspecifications that weaken the concept and undermine the prospect of the economic and political goals it stands for being achieved. For inclusivity to be meaningful and sustainable it must be understood in multidimensional terms, but attaching it to orthodox thinking on growth continually draws the debate back to narrow economic considerations. The concept has also been hampered by ‘methodological nationalism’, whereby policies for inclusivity are considered predominantly at the national level without adequate attention being given to the multilateral dimensions of inclusivity in a world of global interdependence. To be coherent and applicable, inclusive growth must be (re)conceived multilaterally and embrace a more multidimensional notion of inclusive development that hinges around a meaningful conception of human wellbeing

Dimensionality of spin modulations in 1/8-doped lanthanum cuprates from the perspective of NQR and muSR experiments

We investigate the dimensionality of inhomogeneous spin modulation patterns in the cuprate family of high-temperature superconductors with particular focus on 1/8-doped lanthanum cuprates. We compare one-dimensional stripe modulation pattern with two-dimensional checkerboard of spin vortices in the context of nuclear quadrupole resonance(NQR) and muon spin rotation(muSR) experiments. In addition, we also consider the third pattern, a two-dimensional superposition of spin spirals. Overall, we have found that none of the above patterns leads to a consistent interpretation of the two types of experiments considered. This, in particular, implies that the spin vortex checkerboard cannot be ruled out on the basis of available NQR/muSR experimental results.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Accessing elite nurses for research: reflections on the theoretical and practical issues of telephone interviewing

Elite groups are interesting as they frequently are powerful (in terms of position, knowledge and influence) and enjoy considerable authority. It is important, therefore, to involve them in research concerned with understanding social contexts and processes. This is particularly pertinent in healthcare, where considerable strategic development and change are features of everyday practice that may be guided or perceived as being guided, by elites. This paper evolved from a study investigating the availability and role of nurses whose remit involved leading nursing research and development within acute NHS Trusts in two health regions in Southern England. The study design included telephone interviews with Directors of Nursing Services during which time the researchers engaged in a reflective analysis of their experiences of conducting research with an `elite' group. Important issues identified were the role of gatekeepers, engagement with elites and the use of the telephone interview method in this context. The paper examines these issues and makes a case for involving executive nurses in further research. The paper also offers strategies to help researchers design and implement telephone interview studies successfully to maximise access to the views and experiences of `hard to reach groups', such as elites, while minimising the associated disruption

Reducing stomatal density in barley improves drought tolerance without impacting on yield.

The epidermal patterning factor (EPF) family of secreted signalling peptides regulate the frequency of stomatal development in model dicot and basal land plant species. Here we identify and manipulate the expression of a barley ortholog and demonstrate that when overexpressed HvEPF1 limits entry to, and progression through, the stomatal development pathway. Despite substantial reductions in leaf gas exchange, barley plants with approximately half of the normal number of stomata show no reductions in grain yield. In addition, HvEPF1OE barley lines exhibit significantly enhanced water use efficiency, drought tolerance and soil water conservation properties. Our results demonstrate the potential of manipulating stomatal frequency for the protection and optimisation of cereal crop yields under future drier environments

A Comparison of Components of Written Expression Abilities in Learning Disabled and Non-Learning Disabled Students at Three Grade Levels

Although written language plays a critical role in academic success, little empirical evidence exists on the normal development of processes involved in producing written products. Even less is known about the writing performance of LD children. This study empirically compared the written products of LD and normal students at three grade levels on The Test of Written Language. Results showed that LD subjects scored significantly lower than normal subjects on most written expression abilities, especially in the mechanical tasks of spelling, punctuation, and word usage.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Fractal Properties of Robust Strange Nonchaotic Attractors in Maps of Two or More Dimensions

We consider the existence of robust strange nonchaotic attractors (SNA's) in a simple class of quasiperiodically forced systems. Rigorous results are presented demonstrating that the resulting attractors are strange in the sense that their box-counting dimension is N+1 while their information dimension is N. We also show how these properties are manifested in numerical experiments.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figure

First Documented Pathologies in Tenontosaurus tilletti with Comments on Infection in Non-Avian Dinosaurs

In 2001, a nearly complete sub-adult Tenontosaurus tilletti was collected from the Antlers Formation (Aptian-Albian) of southeastern Oklahoma. Beyond its exceptional preservation, computed tomography (CT) and physical examination revealed this specimen has five pathological elements with four of the pathologies a result of trauma. Left pedal phalanx I-1 and left dorsal rib 10 are both fractured with extensive callus formation in the later stages of healing. Left dorsal rib 7 (L7) and right dorsal rib 10 (R10) exhibit impacted fractures compressed 26 mm and 24 mm, respectively. The fracture morphologies in L7 and R10 indicate this animal suffered a strong compressive force coincident with the long axis of the ribs. All three rib pathologies and the pathological left phalanx I-1 are consistent with injuries sustained in a fall. However, it is clear from the healing exhibited by these fractures that this individual survived the fall. In addition to traumatic fractures, left dorsal rib 10 and possibly left phalanx I-1 have a morphology consistent with post-traumatic infection in the form of osteomyelitis. The CT scans of left metacarpal IV revealed the presence of an abscess within the medullary cavity consistent with a subacute form of hematogenous osteomyelitis termed a Brodie abscess. This is only the second reported Brodie abscess in non-avian dinosaurs and the first documented occurrence in herbivorous dinosaurs. The presence of a Brodie abscess, known only in mammalian pathological literature, suggest mammalian descriptors for bone infection may be applicable to non-avian dinosaurs.We thank R. Cifelli, S. Westrop, and N. Czaplewski for reviewing early drafts of this manuscript. This research was funded by grants awarded to R. L. Cifelli by the American Chemical Society, Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF#38572-AC8) and the National Science Foundation (DEB 9870173). Open Access Fees paid for whole or in part by the University of Oklahoma Libraries Open Initiatives.Ye

Coarsening of Surface Structures in Unstable Epitaxial Growth

We study unstable epitaxy on singular surfaces using continuum equations with a prescribed slope-dependent surface current. We derive scaling relations for the late stage of growth, where power law coarsening of the mound morphology is observed. For the lateral size of mounds we obtain $\xi \sim t^{1/z}$ with $z \geq 4$. An analytic treatment within a self-consistent mean-field approximation predicts multiscaling of the height-height correlation function, while the direct numerical solution of the continuum equation shows conventional scaling with z=4, independent of the shape of the surface current.Comment: 15 pages, Latex. Submitted to PR