Evaluating consistency in environmental policy mixes through policy, stakeholder, and contextual interactions

This paper introduces a method to analyse and explore consistency within policy mixes in order to support the policymaking cycle and applies it to energy and climate change policies in the United Kingdom (UK) biofuels policy context. The first part of the paper introduces a multi-level method to evaluate consistency within policy mixes implemented over a period of time. The first level explores consistency across policy design features in policy mixes. The second level evaluates how stakeholders, and their interactions with policy instruments and each other, can impact consistency within a given context. These interactions influence the implementation of policies and can lead to unintended outcomes that fail to meet the overarching goals. In the second part of the paper, we apply our method to the UK biofuels policy mix, to explore a sector that cuts across the policy areas of transportation, energy, land-use, air, and climate change. Our analysis demonstrates how, by overlooking complex interactions in the design and implementation of policies in the biofuels sector, policy mixes have conflicted with the development of a potential low-carbon technology

Experimentally constrained 165,166Ho(n,γ)^{165,166}\text{Ho}(n,\gamma) rates and implications for the ss process

The $\gamma$-ray strength function and the nuclear level density of $^{167}$Ho have been extracted using the Oslo method from a $^{164}\text{Dy}(\alpha,p\gamma)^{167}$Ho experiment carried out at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory. The level density displays a shape that is compatible with %can be approximated with the constant temperature model in the quasicontinuum, while the strength function shows structures indicating the presence of both a scissors and a pygmy dipole resonance. Using our present results as well as data from a previous $^{163}\text{Dy}(\alpha,p\gamma)^{166}$Ho experiment, the $^{165}\text{Ho}(n,\gamma)$ and $^{166}\text{Ho}(n,\gamma)$ MACS uncertainties have been constrained. The possible influence of the low-lying, long-lived 6~keV isomer $^{166}$Ho in the $s$ process is investigated in the context of a 2~$M_\odot$, [Fe/H]=-0.5 AGB star. We show that the newly obtained $^{165}\text{Ho}(n,\gamma)$ MACS affects the final $^{165}$Ho abundance, while the $^{166}\text{Ho}(n,\gamma)$ MACS only impacts the enrichment of $^{166,167}$Er to a limited degree due to the relatively rapid $\beta$ decay of the thermalized $^{166}$Ho at typical $s$-process temperatures.Comment: 11 pages, submitted to Physical Reviews

A vector-valued ground motion intensity measure incorporating normalized spectral area

A vector-valued intensity measure is presented, which incorporates a relative measure represented by the normalized spectral area. The proposed intensity measure is intended to have high correlation with specific relative engineering demand parameters, which collectively can provide information regarding the damage state and collapse potential of the structure. Extensive dynamic analyses are carried out on a single-degree-of-freedom system with a modified Clough–Johnston hysteresis model, using a dataset of 40 ground motions, in order to investigate the proposed intensity measure characteristics. Response is expressed using the displacement ductility, and the normalized hysteretic energy, both of which are relative engineering demand parameters. Through regression analysis the correlation between the proposed intensity measure and the engineering demand parameters is evaluated. Its domain of applicability is investigated through parametric analysis, by varying the period and the strain-hardening stiffness. Desirable characteristics such as efficiency, sufficiency, and statistical independence are examined. The proposed intensity measure is contrasted to another one, with respect to its correlation to the engineering demand parameters. An approximate procedure for estimating the optimum normalized spectral area is also presented. It is demonstrated that the proposed intensity measure can be used in intensity-based assessments, and, with proper selection of ground motions, in scenario-based assessments

Catching Element Formation In The Act

Gamma-ray astronomy explores the most energetic photons in nature to address some of the most pressing puzzles in contemporary astrophysics. It encompasses a wide range of objects and phenomena: stars, supernovae, novae, neutron stars, stellar-mass black holes, nucleosynthesis, the interstellar medium, cosmic rays and relativistic-particle acceleration, and the evolution of galaxies. MeV gamma-rays provide a unique probe of nuclear processes in astronomy, directly measuring radioactive decay, nuclear de-excitation, and positron annihilation. The substantial information carried by gamma-ray photons allows us to see deeper into these objects, the bulk of the power is often emitted at gamma-ray energies, and radioactivity provides a natural physical clock that adds unique information. New science will be driven by time-domain population studies at gamma-ray energies. This science is enabled by next-generation gamma-ray instruments with one to two orders of magnitude better sensitivity, larger sky coverage, and faster cadence than all previous gamma-ray instruments. This transformative capability permits: (a) the accurate identification of the gamma-ray emitting objects and correlations with observations taken at other wavelengths and with other messengers; (b) construction of new gamma-ray maps of the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies where extended regions are distinguished from point sources; and (c) considerable serendipitous science of scarce events -- nearby neutron star mergers, for example. Advances in technology push the performance of new gamma-ray instruments to address a wide set of astrophysical questions.Comment: 14 pages including 3 figure

Common Genetic Variation And Age at Onset Of Anorexia Nervosa

Background Genetics and biology may influence the age at onset of anorexia nervosa (AN). The aims of this study were to determine whether common genetic variation contributes to AN age at onset and to investigate the genetic associations between age at onset of AN and age at menarche. Methods A secondary analysis of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium genome-wide association study (GWAS) of AN was performed which included 9,335 cases and 31,981 screened controls, all from European ancestries. We conducted GWASs of age at onset, early-onset AN (< 13 years), and typical-onset AN, and genetic correlation, genetic risk score, and Mendelian randomization analyses. Results Two loci were genome-wide significant in the typical-onset AN GWAS. Heritability estimates (SNP-h2) were 0.01-0.04 for age at onset, 0.16-0.25 for early-onset AN, and 0.17-0.25 for typical-onset AN. Early- and typical-onset AN showed distinct genetic correlation patterns with putative risk factors for AN. Specifically, early-onset AN was significantly genetically correlated with younger age at menarche, and typical-onset AN was significantly negatively genetically correlated with anthropometric traits. Genetic risk scores for age at onset and early-onset AN estimated from independent GWASs significantly predicted age at onset. Mendelian randomization analysis suggested a causal link between younger age at menarche and early-onset AN. Conclusions Our results provide evidence consistent with a common variant genetic basis for age at onset and implicate biological pathways regulating menarche and reproduction.Peer reviewe

A genome-wide association study of anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex and heritable eating disorder characterized by dangerously low body weight. Neither candidate gene studies nor an initial genome wide association study (GWAS) have yielded significant and replicated results. We performed a GWAS in 2,907 cases with AN from 14 countries (15 sites) and 14,860 ancestrally matched controls as part of the Genetic Consortium for AN (GCAN) and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 3 (WTCCC3). Individual association analyses were conducted in each stratum and meta-analyzed across all 15 discovery datasets. Seventy-six (72 independent) SNPs were taken forward for in silico (two datasets) or de novo (13 datasets) replication genotyping in 2,677 independent AN cases and 8,629 European ancestry controls along with 458 AN cases and 421 controls from Japan. The final global meta-analysis across discovery and replication datasets comprised 5,551 AN cases and 21,080 controls. AN subtype analyses (1,606 AN restricting; 1,445 AN binge-purge) were performed. No findings reached genome-wide significance. Two intronic variants were suggestively associated: rs9839776 (P=3.01×10−7) in SOX2OT and rs17030795 (P=5.84×10−6) in PPP3CA. Two additional signals were specific to Europeans: rs1523921 (P=5.76×10−6) between CUL3 and FAM124B and rs1886797 (P=8.05×10−6) near SPATA13. Comparing discovery to replication results, 76% of the effects were in the same direction, an observation highly unlikely to be due to chance (P= 4×10−6), strongly suggesting that true findings exist but that our sample, the largest yet reported, was underpowered for their detection. The accrual of large genotyped AN case-control samples should be an immediate priority for the field

A genome-wide association study of anorexia nervosa suggests a risk locus implicated in dysregulated leptin signaling

J. Kaprio, A. Palotie, A. Raevuori-Helkamaa ja S. Ripatti ovat työryhmän Eating Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium jäseniä. Erratum in: Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 21;7(1):8379, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06409-3We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of anorexia nervosa (AN) using a stringently defined phenotype. Analysis of phenotypic variability led to the identification of a specific genetic risk factor that approached genome-wide significance (rs929626 in EBF1 (Early B-Cell Factor 1); P = 2.04 x 10(-7); OR = 0.7; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.61-0.8) with independent replication (P = 0.04), suggesting a variant-mediated dysregulation of leptin signaling may play a role in AN. Multiple SNPs in LD with the variant support the nominal association. This demonstrates that although the clinical and etiologic heterogeneity of AN is universally recognized, further careful sub-typing of cases may provide more precise genomic signals. In this study, through a refinement of the phenotype spectrum of AN, we present a replicable GWAS signal that is nominally associated with AN, highlighting a potentially important candidate locus for further investigation.Peer reviewe

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three genomic nomenclature systems to all sequence data from the World Health Organization European Region available until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation, compare the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2

Shared genetic risk between eating disorder- and substance-use-related phenotypes:Evidence from genome-wide association studies

First published: 16 February 202