Green Energy v. The Constitution: New York State’s Battle with Home Rule Provisions in the Age of Environmentalism

In the era of metal straws, reusable grocery bags, and glass water bottles, there is no doubt society is becoming more and more environmentally conscious. This ecological ethos has manifested itself inhuge policy shifts away from traditional fossil fuel energy and toward renewable energy, such as wind and solar power. Lawmakers throughoutthe world are making agreements and commitments aimed at decreasingreliance on fossil fuels. In the United States, New York State has taken a leading role in the quest toward renewable energy. With New York State’s ambitious climate goals, though, have come serious encroachments on powers traditionally held by local governments. To keep up with its robust environmental policy goals, New York has seized power away from municipalities regarding the siting of large-scale energy projects, such as wind and solar plants. The State has, slowlybut surely, bestowed upon the executive branch the power to control energy siting. As a result, municipalities largely affected by these projectsgrapple for a voice, only to be silenced by unelected officials in Albany.Lawmakers have quelled local dissent through the use of “unreasonably burdensome” clauses nestled within the two controlling energy siting statutes. These clauses effectively allow State officials to ignore local laws or ordinances which conflict with a proposed energy siting project if they find the local legislation to be “unreasonably burdensome”—a term without a definition. Many view the energy siting process embraced by New York as a violation of the “home rule” provisions found within the New York State Constitution. In short, the home rule provisions grant local governmentsa broad range of powers.1 Despite these home rule powers, however, thejurisprudence of the New York State Court of Appeals suggests the broad and overreaching energy siting process implemented by the Legislature would preempt any local rules to the contrary. This Comment provides an analysis of New York’s environmentalpolicy, the statutory processes in place to approve large-scale energy siting projects, and proposed changes to the home rule jurisprudence embraced by New York courts to protect local interests and faithfully adhere to the Constitution’s home rule provisions. Part I details the evolution and current state of New York’s environmental policy. Part IIdiscusses energy siting generally and the regime adopted in New York to approve large-scale energy siting projects. Part III discusses the home rule provisions found within the New York State Constitution, along withdoctrines adopted by the courts which have limited their practical reach.Finally, Part IV argues New York courts should reconsider their jurisprudence surrounding home rule and, accordingly, invalidate the sections of the governing energy siting statutes which encroach upon local governments’ powers

A study of some factors impeding the effectiveness of student-patient relationships in a psychiatric hospital.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

High reflectivity photorefractive Bragg gratings in germania-free optical fibres

We present the first report of Bragg gratings with reflectivities exceeding 99% written in germania-fibre optical fibres by UV exposure. This result has important implications for the production of ultrashort single-frequency fibre lasers

1.5µm Er³⁺:Yb³⁺ doped fibre DBF laser

We report the first DFB fiber laser. When pumped with a 980nm diode laser, the 2cm-long laser has an output power of 2mW at 1.534µm and a RIN of < -156dB/Hz

Photosensitivity in germanosilicate fibres: electronic change or physical change?

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Delirium markers in older fallers: a case-control study

Background: When a hospitalized older patient falls or develops delirium, there are significant consequences for the patient and the health care system. Assessments of inattention and altered consciousness, markers for delirium, were analyzed to determine if they were also associated with falls. Methods: This retrospective case-control study from a regional tertiary Veterans Affairs referral center identified falls and delirium risk factors from quality databases from 2010 to 2012. Older fallers with complete delirium risk assessments prior to falling were identified. As a control, non-fallers were matched at a 3:1 ratio. Admission risk factors that were compared in fallers and non-fallers included altered consciousness, cognitive performance, attention, sensory deficits, and dehydration. Odds ratio (OR) was reported (95% confidence interval [CI]). Results: After identifying 67 fallers, the control population (n=201) was matched on age (74.4±9.8 years) and ward (83.6% medical; 16.4% intensive care unit). Inattention as assessed by the Months of the Year Backward test was more common in fallers (67.2% versus 50.8%, OR=2.0; 95% CI: 1.1–3.7). Fallers tended to have altered consciousness prior to falling (28.4% versus 12.4%, OR=2.8; 95% CI: 1.3–5.8). Conclusion: In this case-control study, alterations in consciousness and inattention, assessed prior to falling, were more common in patients who fell. Brief assessments of consciousness and attention should be considered for inclusion in fall prediction

Visual analytics of contact tracing policy simulations during an emergency response

Epidemiologists use individual-based models to (a) simulate disease spread over dynamic contact networks and (b) to investigate strategies to control the outbreak. These model simulations generate complex ‘infection maps’ of time-varying transmission trees and patterns of spread. Conventional statistical analysis of outputs offers only limited interpretation. This paper presents a novel visual analytics approach for the inspection of infection maps along with their associated metadata, developed collaboratively over 16 months in an evolving emergency response situation. We introduce the concept of representative trees that summarize the many components of a time-varying infection map while preserving the epidemiological characteristics of each individual transmission tree. We also present interactive visualization techniques for the quick assessment of different control policies. Through a series of case studies and a qualitative evaluation by epidemiologists, we demonstrate how our visualizations can help improve the development of epidemiological models and help interpret complex transmission patterns

High reflectivity fibre gratings written by a single excimer laser pulse

We report fibre Bragg gratings with up to 65% reflectivity and bandwidths as small as 6 GHz written by a single 20 ns excimer laser pulse. Our results show that ~100% reflectivity single-pulse fibre gratings should soon be produced