The Cape Wind Offshore Wind Energy Project: A Case Study of the Difficult Transition to Renewable Energy

This article presents the story of one renewable energy alternative that is available wherever the wind blows strong and steady. If that alone is not sufficient enticement to read further, the authors also promise to present one of the most engaging permitting sagas ever known to this field. Indeed, the Cape Wind Energy project was held captive by the permitting process for nearly a decade – in stark contrast to numerous offshore oil projects – due to the imposition of disproportionally rigorous regulatory scrutiny and the dogged political pressure applied by a few wealthy homeowners with ocean views in the direction of the proposed wind farm. This article addresses Cape Wind, the nation’s first offshore wind energy project proposed for Nantucket Sound in federal waters adjacent to Massachusetts. Part I provides an overview of the project and its importance and describes its long and complicated permitting path. Part II analyzes how the Cape Wind experience highlights flaws in the federal permitting process and offers recommendations for remedying those flaws. Part III describes the complex jurisdictional issues that Cape Wind faced because the wind turbines are proposed to be located in federal waters, while the electric cables that transmit the electricity to the mainland would lie in the seabed of state waters. Part III also analyzes the federal and state court opinions, and relevant statutory authority, that ultimately resolved the jurisdictional disputes. Part IV concludes with a brief summary of Cape Wind’s long-term prospects

Een natuurlijk familiegevoel in Villa Sijthoff

Global Challenges (FSW

Red wine consumption and oxidation of low-density lipoproteins

Contains fulltext : 21017___.PDF (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Economische aspecten en relaties van omliggende gebieden met het stedelijk netwerk van de Vlaamse Ruit

In het huidig ontwerp Ruimtelijk Structuurplan Vlaanderen (RSV) wordt het gebied tussen Brussel, Gent, Antwerpen en Leuven aangeduid als een stedelijk netwerk op internationaal niveau. Teneinde uitvoering te kunnen geven aan het RSV werd dit stedelijk netwerk nader onderzocht. In een eerste deel van het onderzoek werd gezocht naar een morfologische en functionele basis voor de Vlaamse Ruit. In dit artikel wordt meer in het bijzonder ingegaan op het economisch luik van dit onderzoek. Daarna wordt ook aangegeven dat het ontwikkelen en versterken van een stedelijk netwerk op internationaal niveau ook voor de rest van Vlaanderen een meerwaar-de kan opleveren.regional and urban economics ;

Personality traits in psychotic illness and their clinical correlates:A systematic review

This systematic review focuses on personality traits according to both the Five Factor Model and Cloninger Psychobiological Model in relation to treatment related outcome variables across all stages of clinical psychotic illness. Search of Pubmed and Psychinfo databases led to final inclusion of 65 studies, which were ranked on quality and analyzed according to the associations between personality and outcome. Main findings are that higher levels of Harm Avoidance and Neuroticism are associated with higher symptom levels, tendency towards passive coping, greater self-stigma, lower quality of life, and Harm Avoidance to higher suicidality. Higher levels of Extraversion and higher levels of Self-Directedness are associated with more preference for active coping, more intrinsic motivation and higher self-esteem. Higher Novelty Seeking is related to more substance use and aggression, in men specifically. On outcome of trauma, care consumption and duration of untreated illness no consistent associations with personality traits were found. Combined evidence from both personality models however reveals a consistent pattern of personality traits related to clinical outcome in psychotic disorder, which is discussed in a dimensional manner. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved

Can paramedics use FRAX (the WHO Fracture Risk Assessment Tool) to help GPs improve future fracture risk in patients who fall? Protocol for a randomised controlled feasibility study

© 2014, BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Introduction: Currently identification, and therefore, management of patients at risk of osteoporotic fracture in the UK is suboptimal. As the majority of patients who fracture have fallen, it follows that people who fall can usefully be targeted in any programme that aims to reduce osteoporotic fracture. Targeting vulnerable patients who are likely to benefit from intervention may help shift the management of fracture prevention into primary care, away from emergency departments. Paramedics who attend to patients who have fallen may be well placed to assess future fracture risk, using the Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) and communicate that information directly to general practitioners (GPs). Methods and analysis: This feasibility study takes the form of a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial aimed at exploring and refining issues of study design, recruitment, retention, sample size and acceptability preceding a large-scale study with fracture as the end point. Patients (aged >50) who fall, call an ambulance, are attended by a study paramedic and give verbal consent will be asked FRAX and fall questions. Patients who subsequently formally consent to participation will be randomised to control (usual care) or intervention groups. Intervention will constitute transmission of calculated future fracture risk to the patients' GP with suitable, evidence-based recommendations for investigation or treatment. 3 months after the index fall, data ( proportion of patients in each group undergoing investigation or starting new treatment, quality of life and health economic) will be collected and analysed using descriptive statistics. A nested qualitative study will explore issues of acceptability and study design with patients, paramedics and GPs. Ethics and dissemination: This protocol was approved by NRES Committee South Central Oxford C in October 2012. Research Ethics Committee ref.12/SC/0604. The study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, conference presentations and local public events. A publication plan and authorship criteria have been preagreed. Trial registration number: ISRCTN: 36245726

Paraoxonase (PON1) and the risk for coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction in a general population of Dutch women.

Contains fulltext : 71536.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)There is strong evidence from both animal- and in vitro-models that paraoxonase (PON1) is involved in the onset of cardiovascular disease. In humans there is no consensus on this issue and therefore we investigated the effect of PON1 genotype and activity on the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in a large prospective cohort of 17,357 middle-aged women. We applied a case-cohort design using the CHD (n=211) and AMI cases (n=71) and a random sample from the baseline cohort (n=1527). A weighted Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate age- and multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for the PON1 genetic variants (192Q > R and -107C > T) and tertiles of the PON1 arylesterase- and paraoxonase activities. Neither the PON1 genetic variants, nor the PON1 activities affected the incidence of CHD in general, but, an increased paraoxonase activity was associated with a higher risk of AMI: the second and third tertile HR were 1.31 and 2.07, respectively (P-trend=0.029, multivariate model). In the subgroup of never-smokers, paraoxonase activity was associated with an increased risk for AMI: the second and third tertile HR were 4.1 and 4.7, respectively (P-trend=0.009, multivariate model). Additionally, when compared to the lowest paraoxonase tertile in never-smokers, the highest paraoxonase tertile in current-smokers showed a 19.2-fold higher risk for AMI (95%CI: 5.3-69.5, P < 0.0001, multivariate model). In conclusion, this study shows that in middle-aged women paraoxonase activity was associated with an increased risk for AMI and that the risk was modified by the effects of smoking