Urban wind power and the private sector : community benefits, social acceptance and public engagement

Given the ambitious government targets for renewable energy generation in the UK, there has been a push by government and industry towards various types and scales of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs). This paper explores the implications of commercial urban wind projects for local communities, drawing on a case study of proposals by ASDA to construct wind turbines in two semi-urban locations in the UK. The paper argues that community responses to the proposals were complex and varied and could not adequately be encapsulated by 'nimby' (not in my back yard) assignations. It concludes that while ASDA followed a process of consulting local people, this process highlighted the problems of the 'business as usual' approach to public engagement employed by ASDA, and assumptions made about public acceptance of RETs

Gaussian Belief with dynamic data and in dynamic network

In this paper we analyse Belief Propagation over a Gaussian model in a dynamic environment. Recently, this has been proposed as a method to average local measurement values by a distributed protocol ("Consensus Propagation", Moallemi & Van Roy, 2006), where the average is available for read-out at every single node. In the case that the underlying network is constant but the values to be averaged fluctuate ("dynamic data"), convergence and accuracy are determined by the spectral properties of an associated Ruelle-Perron-Frobenius operator. For Gaussian models on Erdos-Renyi graphs, numerical computation points to a spectral gap remaining in the large-size limit, implying exceptionally good scalability. In a model where the underlying network also fluctuates ("dynamic network"), averaging is more effective than in the dynamic data case. Altogether, this implies very good performance of these methods in very large systems, and opens a new field of statistical physics of large (and dynamic) information systems.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Molecular characterisation of viruses from Kiwifruit

In 2003 Apple stem grooving virus was discovered in Actinidia accessions from China, being held in quarantine in Auckland. Subsequent examination of kiwifruit germplasm from the same source has detected several additional viruses, including a ~300 nm rigid rod related to Ribgrass mosaic virus (Tobamovirus), a 700-750 nm flexuous virus related to Citrus leaf blotch virus (Flexiviridae) and a novel vitivirus. Currently these viruses have not been reported from commercial kiwifruit crops in New Zealand or elsewhere. The biological properties of the viruses from kiwifruit and their phylogenetic relationships with similar viruses from other plants will be described, and the possible implications for the international movement of Actinidia germplasm are discussed

High-sensitivity troponin I concentrations are a marker of an advanced hypertrophic response and adverse outcomes in patients with aortic stenosis

Aims: High-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (cTnI) assays hold promise in detecting the transition from hypertrophy to heart failure in aortic stenosis. We sought to investigate the mechanism for troponin release in patients with aortic stenosis and whether plasma cTnI concentrations are associated with long-term outcome. Methods and results: Plasma cTnI concentrations were measured in two patient cohorts using a high-sensitivity assay. First, in the Mechanism Cohort, 122 patients with aortic stenosis (median age 71, 67% male, aortic valve area 1.0 ± 0.4 cm2) underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance and echocardiography to assess left ventricular (LV) myocardial mass, function, and fibrosis. The indexed LV mass and measures of replacement fibrosis (late gadolinium enhancement) were associated with cTnI concentrations independent of age, sex, coronary artery disease, aortic stenosis severity, and diastolic function. In the separate Outcome Cohort, 131 patients originally recruited into the Scottish Aortic Stenosis and Lipid Lowering Trial, Impact of REgression (SALTIRE) study, had long-term follow-up for the occurrence of aortic valve replacement (AVR) and cardiovascular deaths. Over a median follow-up of 10.6 years (1178 patient-years), 24 patients died from a cardiovascular cause and 60 patients had an AVR. Plasma cTnI concentrations were associated with AVR or cardiovascular death HR 1.77 (95% CI, 1.22 to 2.55) independent of age, sex, systolic ejection fraction, and aortic stenosis severity. Conclusions: In patients with aortic stenosis, plasma cTnI concentration is associated with advanced hypertrophy and replacement myocardial fibrosis as well as AVR or cardiovascular death

The place of strategic environmental assessment in the privatised electricity industry

The private sector has given relatively little attention to the emergence of strategic environmental assessment (SEA); even recently privatised utilities, where SEA might be deemed particularly appropriate, and whose activities are likely to fall within the scope of the European Union SEA Directive, have shown less interest than might be expected. However, the global trend towards the privatisation of state-owned enterprises makes the adaptation of SEA towards these industries all the more pressing. This paper addresses the place that SEA might take within the electricity sector, taking the privatised UK electricity industry as an example. Particular challenges are posed by the radical restructuring of the industry, designed to introduce competitive behaviour, making the development of comprehensive SEA processes problematic, and requiring SEA to be placed in the context of corporate environmental policy and objectives.</p

Cold Bose gases with large scattering lengths

We calculate the energy and condensate fraction for a dense system of bosons interacting through an attractive short range interaction with positive s-wave scattering length $a$. At high densities, $n>>a^{-3}$, the energy per particle, chemical potential, and square of the sound speed are independent of the scattering length and proportional to $n^{2/3}$, as in Fermi systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Two-body correlations in N-body boson systems

We formulate a method to study two-body correlations in a system of N identical bosons interacting via central two-body potentials. We use the adiabatic hyperspherical approach and assume a Faddeev-like decomposition of the wave function. For a fixed hyperradius we derive variationally an optimal integro-differential equation for hyperangular eigenvalue and wave function. This equation reduces substantially by assuming the interaction range much smaller than the size of the N-body system. At most one-dimensional integrals then remain. We view a Bose-Einstein condensate pictorially as a structure in the landscape of the potential given as a function of the one-dimensional hyperradial coordinate. The quantum states of the condensate can be located in one of the two potential minima. We derive and discuss properties of the solutions and illustrate with numerical results. The correlations lower the interaction energy substantially. The new multi-body Efimov states are solutions independent of details of the two-body potential. We compare with mean-field results and available experimental data.Comment: 19 pages (RevTeX4), 13 figures (latex). Journal-link: http://pra.aps.org

A hybrid actuator disc - full rotor CFD methodology for modelling the effects of wind turbine wake interactions on performance

The performance of individual wind turbines is crucial for maximum energy yield, however, their performance is often reduced when turbines are placed together in an array. The wake produced by the rotors interacts with downstream turbines, resulting in a reduction in power output. In this paper, we demonstrate a new and faster modelling technique which combines actuator disc theory, modelled using wind tunnel validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and integrated into full rotor CFD simulations. This novel hybrid of techniques results in the ability to analyse performance when simulating various array layouts more rapidly and accurately than using either method on its own. It is shown that there is a significant power reduction from a downstream turbine that is subjected to the wake of an upstream turbine, and that this is due to both a reduction in power in the wind and also due to changes in the aerodynamics. Analysis of static pressure along the blade showed that as a result of wake interactions, a large reduction in the suction peak along the leading edge reduced the lift generated by the rotor and so reduced the torque production and the ability for the blade to extract energy from the wind