Investments in renewable energy (RE) technologies are regarded with increasing interest as an effective means to stimulate growth and accelerate the recovery from the recent financial crisis. Yet, ...despite their appeal, and the numerous policies implemented to promote these technologies, the diffusion of RE projects remains somehow below expectations. This limited penetration is also due to a lack of appropriate financing and to a certain reluctance to invest in these technologies. In order to shed light on this phenomenon, in this paper we examine the decision making process underlying investments in RE technologies. We propose and test a conceptual model that examines the structural and behavioural factors affecting the investors decisions as well as the relationship between RE investments and portfolio performance. Applying econometric techniques on primary data collected from a sample of European investors, we study how the investors’ a-priori beliefs, their preferences over policy instruments and their attitude toward technological risk affect the likelihood of investing in RE projects. We also demonstrate that portfolio performance increases with an increase of the RE share in the portfolio. Implications for scholars, investors, technology managers and policy makers are derived and discussed.
This paper introduces the special issue on Strategic Choices for Renewable Energy Investment, which is a collection of best papers presented at an international research conference held in St. Gallen ...(Switzerland) in February 2010. Substantial private investment is needed if public policy objectives to increase the share of renewable energy and prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change are to be achieved. The aim of this paper, and the entire special issue, is to draw scholarly attention to the processes underlying strategic choices for renewable energy investment, and how they are influenced by energy policy. We disentangle the role of risk-return perceptions, portfolio effects and path dependence in explaining energy investment decisions, and suggest that the heterogeneous universe of investors requires a segmentation of policies. The paper outlines some of the rich opportunities for further research in this emerging area.
The primary end point of the study was the analysis of associations between polymorphisms with putative influence on 5-fluorouracil/irinotecan activity and progression-free survival (PFS) of patients ...with advanced colorectal cancer treated with first-line FOLFIRI chemotherapy. Peripheral blood samples from 146 prospectively enrolled patients were used for genotyping polymorphisms in thymidylate synthase (TS), methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), excision repair cross-complementation group-1 (ERCC 1) xeroderma pigmentosum group-D (XPD), X-ray cross-complementing-1 (XRCC 1), X-ray cross-complementing-3 (XRCC 3) and uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferases-A1 (UGT1 A1). TS 3'-UTR 6+/6+ and XRCC3-241 C/C genotypes were associated with adverse PFS. Hazard ratio for PFS achieved 2.89 (95% confidence interval=1.56-5.80; P=0.002) in 30 patients (20%) with both risk genotypes. Risk for Grade III-IV neutropenia was significantly associated with UGT1A1*28 7/7 genotype. These promising findings deserve further investigations and their validation in independent prospective studies.
The identification of Milankovitch cycles and the establishment of a high-resolution astronomical time scale for the Palaeozoic represent a research frontier in cyclostratigraphy and astrochronology. ...A continuous core drilled through the Telychian Stage (Llandovery, Silurian) of the Pasłek Formation in the Baltic Basin (Poland) is characterized by repetitive centimetre-scale alternations of homogeneous greenish-grey mudstones and faintly laminated dark-grey-to-black mudstones. Such lithological rhythmicity reflects a cyclical variation in redox conditions at the sediment-water interface, and therefore was used to construct a floating astronomical time scale (ATS) for the Telychian Stage. The cyclostratigraphic analysis was performed on a 5mm resolution greyscale scan based upon photographs of the slabbed core, with lower values associated with greenish-grey mudstones and higher values related to dark-grey-to-black mudstone facies. Spectral density estimation by means of the multitaper method (MTM) reveals significant peaks rising above the 95% red noise confidence level that we interpret as the 405-kyr long-eccentricity, short-eccentricity, obliquity and precession components. The MTM evolutive power spectral analysis (EPSA) shows a gradual increase in the velocity of sedimentation from 5.03m/Myr in the lowermost interval to 5.48m/Myr towards the uppermost part of the studied sequence. We postulate that the observed cycles reflect orbitally-driven climatic variations from stable wet conditions to monsoon-like high seasonal contrasts that affected weathering intensity, runoff and nutrient supply. These cyclical variations led to rhythmic variations in organic matter fluxes and benthic anoxic conditions. In the analysed record, orbital precession influenced the deposition of the greenish-grey mudstone and dark-grey-to-black mudstone couplets, occurring on average every 10cm. Furthermore, long-eccentricity modulation of precession controlled the relative depositional predominance of one facies over the other. Observed periodicities resemble those of Cenozoic and Mesozoic orbitally controlled records, thus suggesting that during the Silurian the orbital eccentricity forcing on the carbon flux acted in the same way as in the Cenozoic and Mesozoic. The orbital tuning of the studied interval, calibrated by means of accurate acritarch biostratigraphy, allowed for the estimation of an astronomically calibrated duration for the Telychian Stage of about 5.46Myr.
•The Telychian interval is dominated by varve-like mudstone couplets.•Spectral density estimate reveals prominent 405-kyr-long eccentricity cycles.•Rhythmic sedimentation was controlled by orbitally-paced seasonal contrast.•Cycles reflect variations in weathering intensity, nutrient supply and benthic anoxia.•Astronomical calibration gives a duration for the Telychian Stage of about 5.46Myr.
The transition from the Middle to Late Ordovician cold climate to the Silurian greenhouse phase was marked by major climatic and oceanographic changes. The vast epereic sea that during the early ...Paleozoic extended over the Baltic Plate for hundreds of kilometres recorded the dynamic processes that characterized this important climatic evolution. This shallow epicontinental sea experienced phases of hypoxic conditions for millions of years during the Silurian favouring the sedimentation of organic-rich deposits. A continuous core drilled in the Silurian fine-grained succession of the Baltic Basin was studied integrating sedimentological, palynological and geochemical data. The succession, deposited in a restricted environment in low-energy settings, recorded three long-term variations in bottom-water redox conditions. Our data highlight a direct control of long-term climatic changes on oceanic redox cycles. Phases of cool and dry climate with reduced runoff alternated with periods of warmer and humid conditions with higher runoff and fluvial discharge. During warmer and more humid climatic phases, the presence of a stable pycnocline hampered deep-water renewal efficiency, and together with increased nutrients led by enhanced weathering and runoff favoured the onset of anoxic bottom-water conditions. Cooler and drier intervals favoured instead a weaker and less stable pycnocline that, coupled with more oligotrophic conditions, drove the formation of oxic bottom-waters. The variation through time in water salinity and temperature influenced both the type of organic matter in the surface waters as well as its preservation along the water column. In fact, the extended residence time at the stable pycnocline during the anoxic phases led to the degradation of the organic matter and limited its accumulation at the sediment-water interface. The waning of the latest Ordovician cooling to the Silurian greenhouse climate was characterized by the progressive alternation of cool phases and warmer periods. The effect of this dynamic climatic instability on the redox state of the Baltica epicontinental sea protracted over millions of years up to the middle Silurian.
•Restricted basin hydrographic conditions caused benthic anoxia.•Long-term pycnocline and nutrient variations controlled benthic anoxia dynamics.•Hypoxia (oxia) occurred during warm-humid (cool-dry) climatic conditions.•The presence of a stable pycnocline limited organic carbon accumulation rate.•Latest Ordovician–Silurian climate change was gradual.
Fermilab experiment E835 has measured the cross section for the reaction p̄p→e+e− at s=11.63, 12.43, 14.40 and 18.22 GeV2. From the analysis of the 66 observed events new high-precision measurements ...of the proton magnetic form factor are obtained.
A
bstract
A search for the
K
+
→
π
+
X
decay, where
X
is a long-lived feebly interacting particle, is performed through an interpretation of the
K
+
→
π
+
ν
ν
¯
analysis of data collected in 2017 by ...the NA62 experiment at CERN. Two ranges of
X
masses, 0–110 MeV
/c
2
and 154–260 MeV
/c
2
, and lifetimes above 100 ps are considered. The limits set on the branching ratio, BR(
K
+
→
π
+
X
), are competitive with previously reported searches in the first mass range, and improve on current limits in the second mass range by more than an order of magnitude.
The doxorubicin-docetaxel combination is active in breast cancer; the aim of the present study was to evaluate the complete response rate and safety profile of the doxorubicin and docetaxel regimen ...as first-line chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer patients.
Forty-three patients entered the study. Treatment plan was: doxorubicin (50 mg/m2, i.v. bolus) followed 1 hour later by docetaxel (75 mg/m2 i.v. infusion over 1 hour), q 3 weeks, for up to six courses. The patients achieving a response or a stabilisation of disease after 6 courses were allowed to intensify the treatment with docetaxel (100 mg/m2, q 3 weeks) for up to 2 courses. G-CSF (or GM-CSF) was administered if clinically indicated.
Patients' median age was 57years (range 32-75) and 72% of them had visceral disease. A total of 217 doxorubicin-docetaxel courses were delivered, with 70% of patients receiving all the 6 planned cycles. Among the 40 patients assessable for response (WHO criteria), 7 (16%) achieved a complete remission and 22 (51%) a partial remission, for an overall response rate (intent-to-treat) of 67% (95% C.I. =53% to 81%). In 19 patients, the treatment was intensified with two more single-agent docetaxel cycles, without ameliorating the response. Twenty-seven patients with oestrogen receptor-positive received hormonal therapy as 'maintenance' after completing chemotherapy treatment. NCIC G3-G4 neutropenia was recorded in 58% of patients, with G/GM-CSF used in 23 (53%) patients and 91 (38%) cycles. No patients experienced severe cardiac or neurological toxicity. No toxic death occurred. With a median follow-up of 41 months among alive patients, we observed in responder patients an overall median time to progression and survival of 18 and 33 months respectively, with ten long-survivors still alive.
This study confirmed the combination doxorubicin-docetaxel as a very active regimen for metastatic breast cancer. Remarkably long survival times were observed not only in complete responders, but also in those patients who responded partially. This might be equally attributed to first-line treatment and sequential maintenance hormonal therapy.
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