scholarly journals Governance and decentralized energy transitions: a comparative case study of three medium-sized cities in Sweden, Canada, and the United States.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-106
Author(s):  
Martin Boucher
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Energy System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Energy Transitions ◽  
Contextual Understanding ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Decentralized Energy ◽  
The Impact

 Aim: This study examines the impact of governance on decentralized energy transitions. Knowledge of how particular jurisdictions and their governance arrangements influence these transitions can help strengthen and contextualize divergent trajectories of decentralized energy transitions and—most importantly—reveal the role of geographical context in policy change. Design: This research gap is addressed in this paper by comparing the uptake of decentralized energy transitions in three cities in three different countries—Luleå (Sweden), Saskatoon (Canada), and Anchorage (United States). The jurisdictions in each city has unique governance contexts pertaining to electric utilities, regulations, public policy, and public acceptance.  By comparing these transitions, this study highlights the governance considerations for decentralized energy transitions and asks how does governance impact decentralized energy transitions in cities? To answer this question, actors within various public, private, and sectoral capacities were interviewed to provide their insights on decentralized energy transitions in each jurisdiction. Conclusion: I present five governance dimensions that impact decentralized energy transitions and explain how these factors can be included to provide a more contextual understanding of patterns of decentralized energy transitions in cities.  Originality: Much of the literature on decentralized energy and cities has focused on project and sectoral level analysis and hasn’t considered the holistic nature of the energy system transition. A particular gap that would help inform a broader understanding is the jurisdictional governance impacts of decentralization energy transitions. Implications of the Research: In practical terms, the results could be used to inform inter-jurisdictional comparisons of decentralization energy projects. Limitations of the Research: Given that there were three case studies, it is not possible to make generalizable claims from the results.  

The link between coronavirus, anxiety, and religious beliefs in the United States and United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Rigoli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
The Impact

Research has shown that stress impacts on people’s religious beliefs. However, several aspects of this effect remain poorly understood, for example regarding the role of prior religiosity and stress-induced anxiety. This paper explores these aspects in the context of the recent coronavirus emergency. The latter has impacted dramatically on many people’s well-being; hence it can be considered a highly stressful event. Through online questionnaires administered to UK and USA citizens professing either Christian faith or no religion, this paper examines the impact of the coronavirus crisis upon common people’s religious beliefs. We found that, following the coronavirus emergency, strong believers reported higher confidence in their religious beliefs while non-believers reported increased scepticism towards religion. Moreover, for strong believers, higher anxiety elicited by the coronavirus threat was associated with increased strengthening of religious beliefs. Conversely, for non-believers, higher anxiety elicited by the coronavirus thereat was associated with increased scepticism towards religious beliefs. These observations are consistent with the notion that stress-induced anxiety enhances support for the ideology already embraced before a stressful event occurs. This study sheds light on the psychological and cultural implications of the coronavirus crisis, which represents one of the most serious health emergencies in recent times.

Situational Breakdowns

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Nassauer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact

This book provides an account of how and why routine interactions break down and how such situational breakdowns lead to protest violence and other types of surprising social outcomes. It takes a close-up look at the dynamic processes of how situations unfold and compares their role to that of motivations, strategies, and other contextual factors. The book discusses factors that can draw us into violent situations and describes how and why we make uncommon individual and collective decisions. Covering different types of surprise outcomes from protest marches and uprisings turning violent to robbers failing to rob a store at gunpoint, it shows how unfolding situations can override our motivations and strategies and how emotions and culture, as well as rational thinking, still play a part in these events. The first chapters study protest violence in Germany and the United States from 1960 until 2010, taking a detailed look at what happens between the start of a protest and the eruption of violence or its peaceful conclusion. They compare the impact of such dynamics to the role of police strategies and culture, protesters’ claims and violent motivations, the black bloc and agents provocateurs. The analysis shows how violence is triggered, what determines its intensity, and which measures can avoid its outbreak. The book explores whether we find similar situational patterns leading to surprising outcomes in other types of small- and large-scale events: uprisings turning violent, such as Ferguson in 2014 and Baltimore in 2015, and failed armed store robberies.

Assessing the Role of Environmental and Regulatory Issues on Offshore Renewable Energy Projects in the United States

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Daughdrill
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Impact Statement ◽  
Regulatory Issues ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
The U.S

This paper will describe some of the key environmental and regulatory issues affecting development of offshore renewable energy projects in the United States. Offshore wind, wave, tidal current, and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) projects all have unique environmental and social issues that must be addressed to the satisfaction of federal, state, and local authorities. This paper examines the existing federal regulatory schemes applicable to offshore renewable energy development in the United States including a discussion of an on-going jurisdictional debate between agencies at the U.S. federal government level. The various permitting processes for offshore renewable energy projects all involve an examination of the potential environmental and social/human effects of each proposed project. Typically, the agency with primary permitting authority must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) or equivalent document that includes a transparent process that encourages the participation of the interested public and other affected stakeholders. While acknowledging the importance of social/human impact issues, this paper will focus primarily on the potential physical and biological effects from offshore renewable energy projects including a discussion of the uncertainty that surrounds predicting the impact of new or innovative technologies. The U.S. Department of Interior, Minerals Management Service (MMS) recently published a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) that includes 52 “best management practices” for reducing environmental and social impacts from offshore alternative energy projects. Finally the paper will examine the important role of environmental monitoring and adaptive management in informing regulators and developers of potential adverse impacts and adapting project design and operations to avoid or minimize these effects.

D3. 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT, EXCERPTS TOUCHING ON THE ROLE OF U.S. POLICY TOWARD ISRAEL IN THE 9/11 ATTACKS, WASHINGTON, DC, 28 JULY 2004.

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 170-171
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Government Printing ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Commission Report ◽  
Islamist Terrorism ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

The bipartisan commission's 565-page report was issued after many months of investigating, reviewing documents, interviewing hundreds of individuals, and hearing testimony. Much of the material concerning the actual planning of the attacks comes from captured al-Qa‘‘ida operatives, and particularly from the man identified in the report as the ““principal architect of the 9/11 attacks,”” Khalid Shaykh Muhammad (KSM), a Kuwaiti national raised in Pakistan who earned a degree in mechanical engineering in the United States. The report notes (p. 147) that according ““to his own account, KSM's animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel.”” The following brief excerpts touch upon the importance attached to U.S. policy toward Israel in generating the attacks. The references are both in the narrative body of the report and in the more prescriptive chapter ““What to Do?? A Global Strategy,”” where the commission offers suggestions on how the United States can ““Prevent the Continued Growth of Islamist Terrorism””; the paragraph excerpted from this forty-page chapter is the only reference to the impact of U.S. policy with regard to Israel. The excerpts appear respectively on pp. 250, 362, and 376––77 of the report. The full report is available from the U.S. Government Printing Office online at www.gpoaccess.gov/911.

Assessment in American Higher Education: The Role of Admissions Tests

2019 ◽  
Vol 683 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Zwick
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
College Performance ◽  
Admissions Tests ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Test Optional ◽  
The Impact

In this article, I review the role of college admissions tests in the United States and consider the fairness issues surrounding their use. The two main tests are the SAT, first administered in 1926, and the ACT, first given in 1959. Scores on these tests have been shown to contribute to the prediction of college performance, but their role in the admissions process varies widely across colleges. Although test scores are consistently listed as one of the most important admissions factors in national surveys of postsecondary institutions, an increasing number of schools have adopted “test-optional” policies. At these institutions, test score requirements are seen as a barrier to campus diversity because of the large performance gaps among ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Fortunately, the decentralized higher education system in the United States can accommodate a wide range of admissions policies. It is essential, however, that the impact of admissions policy changes be studied and that the resource implications of these changes be thoroughly considered.

scholarly journals A Systemic Review of Worldwide Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods: Findings and Criticisms

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2778
Author(s):  
Mirko Marino ◽  
Federica Puppo ◽  
Cristian Del Bo’ ◽  
Valentina Vinelli ◽  
Patrizia Riso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Energy Intake ◽  
The United States ◽  
Systemic Review ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Obese Subjects ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
Actual Contribution ◽  
The Impact

A debate is ongoing on the significance and appropriateness of the NOVA classification as a tool for categorizing foods based on their degree of processing. As such, the role of ultra-processed food (UPF) on human health is still not completely understood. With this review, we aimed to investigate the actual level of consumption of UPF across countries and target populations to determine the impact in real contexts. Suitable articles published up to March 2021 were sourced through the PubMed and SCOPUS databases. Overall, 99 studies providing data on the level of UPF consumption expressed as the percentage of total energy intake were identified, for a total of 1,378,454 participants. Most of them were published in Brazil (n = 38) and the United States (n = 15), and the 24 h recall was the most-used tool (n = 63). Analysis of the results revealed that the United States and the United Kingdom were the countries with the highest percent energy intake from UPF (generally >50%), whereas Italy had the lowest levels (about 10%); the latter was inversely associated with adherence to the Mediterranean diet. High variability was also observed based on sex, age, and body mass index, with men, young people, and overweight/obese subjects generally having higher levels of consumption compared to older subjects. Overall, our findings underline the large differences in UPF intake. Since most of the observations derived from studies conducted with food questionnaires are not specifically validated for UPF, further efforts are essential to confirm the results previously obtained and to investigate further the association between UPF consumption and health status, also considering the actual contribution within different dietary patterns, which has been less investigated to date.

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