2,236 research outputs found

    The Coast: Where Energy Meets the Environment

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    This Article analyzes mechanisms for handling consequences of the coastal dependent energy programs. Its focus is the United States Department of the Interior plan for increased oil and gas production on the outer continental shelf. Of the four coastal dependent programs, this one has progressed furthest in the implementation process. Deepwater ports are considered in connection with the Deepwater Port Act of 1974, the first federal legislation which explicitly attempts to account for national, regional, state, local, and environmental interests in energy development decision making. Because the number of liquefied natural gas terminals proposed is small and the plans for floating nuclear plants are preliminary, no specific consideration is given their coastal impacts. As these programs mature, the lessons learned from outer continental shelf development will certainly be relevant

    CZM in California, Oregon, and Washington

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    Twenty years ago coastal zone protection was merely a gleam in the eyes of a few west coast visionaries. A flurry of state and federal laws in the late 1960s and into the 1970s changed this. Today, broad coastal management programs are in place in all three west coast states, with a special one for San Francisco Bay. Each program is unique, and at the same time shares significant qualities with the others. This article identifies the major attributes of these four programs and offers insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each. In comparing and contrasting the four programs, this article focuses on five topics. Four topics emphasize the process of coastal zone management: public participation, state and local government relationships, enforcement of program requirements, and federal consistency with approved state programs. The remaining topic stresses substantive changes in patterns of coastal resource use. These five topics were selected in order to distinguish broad aspects of coastal zone management from regulatory programs. These topics also were chosen because of the opportunities they offer for interstate comparison. All three states, for example, have delegated substantial planning and implementation to coastal local governments. Such delegation has created significant program monitoring and enforcement problems. Similarly, all four evaluated programs utilize water dependency as a principal shoreline allocation criterion. The inclusion of water dependency also allows some preliminary attempts to link program processes with concrete program outcomes. For all five topics, the legal framework governing each program is outlined and the experiences of administering the program assessed. Statutes, agency regulations, and court decisions combine to form the relevant legal framework and provide the essentials for how coastal zone management was designed to operate. Of course, the legal framework has been modified as experience in administration dictated. Thus, the article also considers how particular problems actually have been dealt with in the regulatory and planning process. Such an experiential view is, by its very nature, difficult to portray because opinion and anecdote are, by necessity, key elements

    Bose-Einstein Correlations of Three Charged Pions in Hadronic Z^0 Decays

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    Bose-Einstein Correlations (BEC) of three identical charged pions were studied in 4 x 10^6 hadronic Z^0 decays recorded with the OPAL detector at LEP. The genuine three-pion correlations, corrected for the Coulomb effect, were separated from the known two-pion correlations by a new subtraction procedure. A significant genuine three-pion BEC enhancement near threshold was observed having an emitter source radius of r_3 = 0.580 +/- 0.004 (stat.) +/- 0.029 (syst.) fm and a strength of \lambda_3 = 0.504 +/- 0.010 (stat.) +/- 0.041 (syst.). The Coulomb correction was found to increase the \lambda_3 value by \~9% and to reduce r_3 by ~6%. The measured \lambda_3 corresponds to a value of 0.707 +/- 0.014 (stat.) +/- 0.078 (syst.) when one takes into account the three-pion sample purity. A relation between the two-pion and the three-pion source parameters is discussed.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps figures included, accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

    The spatial extent of tephra deposition and environmental impacts from the 1912 Novarupta eruption

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    The eruption of Novarupta within the Katmai Volcanic Cluster, south-west Alaska, in June 1912 was the most voluminous eruption of the twentieth century but the distal distribution of tephra deposition is inadequately quantified. We present new syntheses of published tephrostratigraphic studies and a large quantity of previously un-investigated historical records. For the first time, we apply a geostatistical technique, indicator kriging, to integrate and interpolate such data. Our results show evidence for tephra deposition across much of Alaska, Yukon, the northern Pacific, western British Columbia and northwestern Washington. The most distal tephra deposition was observed around 2,500 km downwind from the volcano. Associated with tephra deposition are many accounts of acid deposition and consequent impacts on vegetation and human health. Kriging offers several advantages as a means to integrate and present such data. Future eruptions of a scale similar to the 1912 event have the potential to cause widespread disruption. Historical records of tephra deposition extend far beyond the limit of deposition constrained by tephrostratigraphic records. The distal portion of tephra fallout deposits is rarely adequately mapped by tephrostratigraphy alone; contemporaneous reports of fallout can provide important constraints on the extent of impacts following large explosive eruptions

    Symptomatic benefits of testosterone treatment in patient subgroups : a systematic review, individual participant data meta-analysis, and aggregate data meta-analysis

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    Acknowledgments This work was supported by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)'s Health Technology Assessment Programme (project number 17/68/01). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, or the UK Department of Health and Social Care. The Health Services Research Unit at the University of Aberdeen is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The Section of Endocrinology and Investigative Medicine at Imperial College London is funded by grants from the Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, NIHR, an Integrative Mammalian Biology Capacity Building Award, and an FP7-HEALTH-2009-241592 EuroCHIP grant, and is supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Funding Scheme. WSD is funded by an NIHR Research Professorship. CNJ is funded by an NIHR Post-Doctoral Fellowship. ShB receives NIH research grant funding. The authors are grateful to the clinical and methodological experts and patient partners who contributed to the advisory group for this study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

    Symptomatic benefits of testosterone treatment in patient subgroups: a systematic review, individual participant data meta-analysis, and aggregate data meta-analysis

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    Background Testosterone replacement therapy is known to improve sexual function in men younger than 40 years with pathological hypogonadism. However, the extent to which testosterone alleviates sexual dysfunction in older men and men with obesity is unclear, despite the fact that testosterone is being increasingly prescribed to these patient populations. We aimed to evaluate whether subgroups of men with low testosterone derive any symptomatic benefit from testosterone treatment. Methods We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate characteristics associated with symptomatic benefit of testosterone treatment versus placebo in men aged 18 years and older with a baseline serum total testosterone concentration of less than 12 nmol/L. We searched major electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Science Citation Index, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) and clinical trial registries for reports published in English between Jan 1, 1992, and Aug 27, 2018. Anonymised individual participant data were requested from the investigators of all identified trials. Primary (cardiovascular) outcomes from this analysis have been published previously. In this report, we present the secondary outcomes of sexual function, quality of life, and psychological outcomes at 12 months. We did a one-stage individual participant data meta-analysis with a random-effects linear regression model, and a two-stage meta-analysis integrating individual participant data with aggregated data from studies that did not provide individual participant data. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42018111005. Findings 9871 citations were identified through database searches. After exclusion of duplicates and publications not meeting inclusion criteria, 225 full texts were assessed for inclusion, of which 109 publications reporting 35 primary studies (with a total 5601 participants) were included. Of these, 17 trials provided individual participant data (3431 participants; median age 67 years [IQR 60–72]; 3281 [97%] of 3380 aged ≥40 years) Compared with placebo, testosterone treatment increased 15-item International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-15) total score (mean difference 5·52 [95% CI 3·95–7·10]; τ²=1·17; n=1412) and IIEF-15 erectile function subscore (2·14 [1·40–2·89]; τ²=0·64; n=1436), reaching the minimal clinically important difference for mild erectile dysfunction. These effects were not found to be dependent on participant age, obesity, presence of diabetes, or baseline serum total testosterone. However, absolute IIEF-15 scores reached during testosterone treatment were subject to thresholds in patient age and baseline serum total testosterone. Testosterone significantly improved Aging Males’ Symptoms score, and some 12-item or 36-item Short Form Survey quality of life subscores compared with placebo, but it did not significantly improve psychological symptoms (measured by Beck Depression Inventory). Interpretation In men aged 40 years or older with baseline serum testosterone of less than 12 nmol/L, short-to-mediumterm testosterone treatment could provide clinically meaningful treatment for mild erectile dysfunction, irrespective of patient age, obesity, or degree of low testosterone. However, due to more severe baseline symptoms, the absolute level of sexual function reached during testosterone treatment might be lower in older men and men with obesity
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