Analysing Pensions: Modelling and Policy Issues. ESRI RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 29 November 2012

Pension systems in OECD countries face challenges arising from increases in life expectancy and from downward pressures on public expenditure. Changes to public and private pension systems have effects that are both complex and longlived. Careful analysis is needed to tease out the implications of different reform options. Recognising this, the EU Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion set up a call for research which specifically included models for the analysis of pensions. The first two papers in this volume flow directly from that work, while the third tackles a complementary topic in the pension area

Approaching the Dirac point in high mobility multi-layer epitaxial graphene

Multi-layer epitaxial graphene (MEG) is investigated using far infrared (FIR) transmission experiments in the different limits of low magnetic fields and high temperatures. The cyclotron-resonance like absorption is observed at low temperature in magnetic fields below 50 mT, allowing thus to probe the nearest vicinity of the Dirac point and to estimate the conductivity in nearly undoped graphene. The carrier mobility is found to exceed 250,000 cm$^2$/(V.s). In the limit of high temperatures, the well-defined Landau level (LL) quantization is observed up to room temperature at magnetic fields below 1 T, a phenomenon unique in solid state systems. A negligible increase in the width of the cyclotron resonance lines with increasing temperature indicates that no important scattering mechanism is thermally activated, supporting recent expectations of high room-temperature mobilities in graphene.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Atypical chemokine receptor ACKR2 controls branching morphogenesis in the developing mammary gland

Macrophages are important regulators of branching morphogenesis during development and postnatally in the mammary gland. Regulation of macrophage dynamics during these processes can therefore have a profound impact on development. We demonstrate here that the developing mammary gland expresses high levels of inflammatory CC-chemokines, which are essential in vivo regulators of macrophage migration. We further demonstrate that the atypical chemokine receptor ACKR2, which scavenges inflammatory CC-chemokines, is differentially expressed during mammary gland development. We have previously shown that ACKR2 regulates macrophage dynamics during lymphatic vessel development. Here, we extend these observations to reveal a novel role for ACKR2 in regulating the postnatal development of the mammary gland. Specifically, we show that Ackr2−/− mice display precocious mammary gland development. This is associated with increased macrophage recruitment to the developing gland and increased density of the ductal epithelial network. These data demonstrate that ACKR2 is an important regulator of branching morphogenesis in diverse biological contexts and provide the first evidence of a role for chemokines and their receptors in postnatal development processes

Transformative Innovation for better Climate Change Adaptation - Case Study: Iceland

The aim of this report is to investigate the potential for harnessing key features of Transformative Innovation to improve the design and the implementation of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) strategies, based on empirical analyses. The study draws on the conceptual framework on this question previously defined for the JRC (European Commission, 2024), and the methodology for case studies, also articulated in the same report. The case study research covered several territories from across the EU and beyond, representing a diversity of approaches to CCA and transformative innovation. The framework takes the form of an analytical grid, structured into seven sections, each of them representing a key feature of the ‘transformative innovation’ approach – features understood as essential conditions for the design and implementation of CCA strategies with this high level of ambition. Each section sets out the main question(s) to be addressed in relation to its respective transformative innovation feature. This Report provides the findings for Iceland, as at September 2023, and is the result of a collaboration between the Joint Research Centre (JRC), DG CLIMA and DG RTD.JRC.B.7 - Innovation Policies and Economic Impac

Peer reviews on Transformative Innovation for Climate Change Adaptation – The urban case of Turku

Within the frame of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) work on transformative innovation for climate resilience, in collaboration with DG CLIMA as orchestrator of the European Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change and DG Research and Innovation, JRC’s Unit B7 “Innovation policies and economic Impact” organised in Autumn 2024 a series of on-line Peer Review workshops on “Transformative Innovation for better Climate Change Adaptation”. The Peer Reviews followed up on territorial case studies published throughout 2024 that also served as a starting point of the analysis of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) implementation bottlenecks. Among the 16 territories covered by the case studies, three territories volunteered to undergo this peer review process. These three territories are also representative of three territorial levels: National (Slovenia), regional (region Blekinge, Sweden) and urban (City of Turku, Finland). The peer review format was tested to federate the experience of peers from other territories across Europe on how to best address CCA bottlenecks and to help volunteering territories to define pathways towards integrating transformative innovation in their climate adaptation strategies. Since the topic is complex and nobody has the full answer, creating a safe space for peer exchanges based on openness and ‘no naming and shaming’ was the method proposed in the peer reviews under the Chatham House rule. The three peer review reports, based on the three aforementioned territorial levels, aim to lay the ground for the strong and urgent imperative to deploy adaptation strategies at the right territorial level and compile the testimonies shared by peers from other territories to overcome specific bottlenecks in implementing their CCA strategies.JRC.B.7 - Innovation Policies and Economic Impac

Transformative Innovation for better Climate Change Adaptation - Case Study: Northern Netherlands

The aim of this report is to investigate the potential for harnessing key features of Transformative Innovation to improve the design and the implementation of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) strategies, based on empirical analyses. The study draws on the conceptual framework on this question previously defined for the JRC (European Commission, 2024), and the methodology for case studies, also articulated in the same report. The case study research covered several territories from across the EU and beyond, representing a diversity of approaches to CCA and transformative innovation . The framework takes the form of an analytical grid, structured into seven sections, each of them representing a key feature of the ‘transformative innovation’ approach – features understood as essential conditions for the design and implementation of CCA strategies with this high level of ambition. Each section sets out the main question(s) to be addressed in relation to its respective transformative innovation feature. This Report provides the findings for Northern Netherlands, and is the result of a collaboration between the Joint Research Centre (JRC), DG CLIMA and DG RTD.JRC.B.7 - Innovation Policies and Economic Impac

Evaluation of a School-Based Headsprout Intervention for Improving Literacy

AbstractHeadsprout Early Reading is a computer-based program designed on behavioral principles to enhance the basic skills that underpin the initial development of reading. In a within and between groups design, and using primary schools within Northern Ireland that had a currently high proportion of disadvantaged pupils, children who were behind their peers in progress with reading were randomly allocated to an intervention group (n = 79), where the target was to work through 80 reading training episodes within a school year, or a teaching as usual group (n = 44). Reading skills were assessed in all children before, at the midpoint, and after the intervention using a flashcard-based phonics identification test with three levels of difficulty, and before and after intervention using a standardized reading assessment, which generated a sentence reading age and a phonics reading age. Both groups showed increased scores on all measures over the 6 months of the study, but the intervention group showed markedly greater improvement. Importantly, the mean scores on sentence reading age and phonics reading age for the intervention group increased by over 17 months and 12.1 months, respectively, as opposed to 7.6 months and 7.8 months with the control group. These findings also validated the use of the flashcard-based phonics identification test with this population. This study indicates that widespread use of Headsprout Early Reading in mainstream education could be highly effective.</jats:p

The atypical chemokine receptor Ackr2 constrains NK cell migratory activity and promotes metastasis

Chemokines have been shown to be essential players in a range of cancer contexts. In this study, we demonstrate that mice deficient in the atypical chemokine receptor Ackr2 display impaired development of metastasis in vivo in both cell line and spontaneous models. Further analysis reveals that this relates to increased expression of the chemokine receptor CCR2, specifically by KLRG1+ NK cells from the Ackr2−/− mice. This leads to increased recruitment of KLRG1+ NK cells to CCL2-expressing tumors and enhanced tumor killing. Together, these data indicate that Ackr2 limits the expression of CCR2 on NK cells and restricts their tumoricidal activity. Our data have important implications for our understanding of the roles for chemokines in the metastatic process and highlight Ackr2 and CCR2 as potentially manipulable therapeutic targets in metastasis

Detection of dermatophytes in the environment of a podiatry clinic

Poster abstract publicado em: Mycoses. 2017;60(Suppl. S2):228-229. Disponível em:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/myc.12675/epdfObjectives: Podiatry is a healthcare profession that specializes in the management of disorders of the lower limb and foot. Podiatric treatments have the potential to generate substantial concentrations of organic dusts. Occupational exposure to bioaerosols in podiatry clinics has been studied, but it was never accessed in a deeply manner for fungi. The detection of dermatophytes in podiatric clinics is a matter of concern since the environmental presence of these fungi can contribute to spread the infection to podiatry workers and to other patients consulted in the podiatry clinics. The aim of the present study was to characterize the dermatophyte burden during podiatric activities by the use of cultural methods but also molecular methodologies for fungal DNA detection directly from the collected samples. Methods: During the period of 4 weeks, environmental samples from a podiatric clinic were collected for both conventional and molecular methodologies. For culture, 44 air samples and 39 swabs from surfaces were inoculated in Mycosel agar. Fourteen air samples from the same sampling sites were collected for direct detection of fungal DNA. Air samples ranging from 88 to 300L were collected using a calibrated impinger device (Midget ImpingeR WITH Universal Sample Pump, SKC (PA, USA), at 2.2L/min airflow rate. Five milliliters of the collection liquid was used for DNA extraction using the ZR Fungal/Bacterial DNA MiniPrep Kit Detection of dermatophytes species (in general) and Trichophyton rubrum (in particular) were both achieved by using the Dermatophyte PCR kit, (SSI Diagnostica, Herredsvejen Hillerød, Denmark). PCR amplifications were performed using 2 μL and 5 μL of the extracted DNA. Results: In the first week, 1 out of 17 samples had a positive result for Trichophyton rubrum (detected in an air sample), whereas in the remaining weeks, no dermatophytes were identified in the remaining 129 samples (weeks 2, 3 and 4). The molecular detection of dermatophytes was performed in the 14 air samples using two different DNA volumes: 2 and 5 µl. Using 2 µl of the extracted DNA, 1 out 14 samples gave a positive result for T. rubrum and none of the PCR reactions was inhibited. Using a 5 µl volume of DNA, 5 samples were positive for T. rubrum but the PCR reaction was inhibited in 6 of them (Table 1). Globally, 5 out of the 14 (36%) samples analyzed showed positive results for the detection of T. rubrum DNA. Conclusions: Giving the ratio of positive/inhibited PCR reactions, we cannot rule out the hypothesis of more positive samples. Nevertheless, the obtained results emphasize the importance of the application of new methodologies for an air quality assessment approach and reinforce the complementarity of both cultural and conventional methodologies. To our knowledge, this study presents for the first time, the application of the Dermatophyte PCR kit for dermatophyte DNA detection directly from environmental samples (air). The promising results indicate the need of optimization of this procedure specifically in this type of samples in order to use this methodology in a routine basis, for occupational and indoor air quality exposure assessments.Funding was provided from: The Committee of the Directorate of Education, The College of Podiatry, UK.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

‘Key skills' building in schools as a possible approach to reducing and preventing challenging behaviour

BackgroundBuilding ‘key skills’ may help prevent the development of challenging behaviour in children with an intellectual disability. The aim of this paper was to extend the current limited evidence in this area.MethodWe undertook two studies with children with an intellectual disability in school settings: (1) a cross-sectional replication study exploring the relationship between ‘key skills’ and challenging behaviour. (2) a longitudinal study follow-up exploring change in ‘key skill’ levels and challenging behaviour.ResultsThe replication study recruited 74 participants, those scoring lowest in ‘key skill’ had a 94% chance of having challenging behaviour; those with the highest scores had a 6% chance. The follow-up study recruited 39 participants, we found a significant increase in children’s ‘key skill’ level (p &lt; .001) and a decrease in their challenging behaviour ((p = 0.046).ConclusionBuilding ‘key skills’ in children with an intellectual disability may help reduce or prevent challenging behaviour