Institutions for Climate Adaptation: An Inventory of Institutions in the Netherlands that are Relevant for Climate Change

One of the goals of project IC12, a research project of the Climate changes Spatial Planning programme, is to assess if the formal institutions operating in the Netherlands are improving or hampering adaptive capacity. In order to answer the research question, the most important documents referring to those institutions need to be evaluated. This document presents an initial inventory of these adaptation institutions – i.e. policy plans, laws and directives, reports and other documents that seemed relevant to the question at hand

The effects of memantine on prepulse inhibition.

Reduced prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle provides evidence of deficient sensorimotor gating in several disorders, including schizophrenia. The role of NMDA neurotransmission in the regulation of PPI is unclear, due to cross-species differences in the effects of NMDA antagonists on PPI. Recent reports suggest that drug effects on PPI differ in subgroups of normal humans that differ in the levels of baseline PPI or specific personality domains; here, we tested the effects of these variables on the sensitivity of PPI to the NMDA antagonist, memantine. PPI was measured in male Sprague-Dawley rats, after treatment with memantine (0, 10 or 20 mg/kg, s.c.). Baseline PPI was then measured in 37 healthy adult men. Next, subjects were tested twice, in a double-blind crossover design, comparing either (1) placebo vs 20 mg of the NMDA antagonist memantine (n=19) or (2) placebo vs 30 mg memantine (n=18). Tests included measures of acoustic startle amplitude, PPI, autonomic indices and subjective self-rating scales. Memantine had dose- and interval-dependent effects on PPI in rats. Compared with vehicle, 10 mg/kg increased short-interval (10-20 ms) PPI, and 20 mg/kg decreased long-interval (120 ms) PPI. In humans, memantine caused dose-dependent effects on psychological and somatic measures: 20 mg was associated with increased ratings of happiness, and 30 mg was associated with increased ratings of dizziness. PPI at the 120 ms prepulse interval was increased by 20 mg, but not 30 mg of memantine. Subgroups most sensitive to the PPI-enhancing effects of memantine were those with low baseline PPI, or with personality scale scores suggestive of high novelty seeking, high sensation seeking, or high disinhibition. NMDA blockade with memantine appears to have dose- and interval-dependent effects on sensorimotor gating in rats and humans, particularly among specific subgroups of normal human subjects. These findings are discussed as they relate to consistencies across other studies in humans, as well as apparent inconsistencies in the NMDA regulation of PPI across species

How Dutch Institutions Enhance the Adaptive Capacity of Society

This report examines the adaptive capacity of the institutional framework of the Netherlands to cope with the impacts of climate change. Historically, institutions have evolved incrementally to deal with existing social problems. They provide norms and rules for collective action and create continuity rather than change. However, the nature of societal problems is changing as a result of the processes of globalization and development. With the progress made in the natural sciences, we are able to predict in advance, to a certain extent, the potential environmental impacts of various human actions on society, for example, climate change. This raises some key questions: Are our institutions capable of dealing with this new knowledge about future impacts and, more importantly, with the impacts themselves? Are our institutions capable of dealing with the inherent uncertainty of the predictions

Antisense Oligonucleotides Promote Exon Inclusion and Correct the Common c.-32-13T>G GAA Splicing Variant in Pompe Disease

The most common variant causing Pompe disease is c.-32-13T>G (IVS1) in the acid α-glucosidase (GAA) gene, which weakens the splice acceptor of GAA exon 2 and induces partial and complete exon 2 skipping. It also allows a low level of leaky wild-type splicing, leading to a childhood/adult phenotype. We hypothesized that cis-acting splicing motifs may exist that could be blocked using antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) to promote exon inclusion. To test this, a screen was performed in patient-derived primary fibroblasts using a tiling array of U7 small nuclear RNA (snRNA)-based AONs. This resulted in the identification of a splicing regulatory element in GAA intron 1. We designed phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer-based AONs to this element, and these promoted exon 2 inclusion and enhanced GAA enzyme activity to levels above the disease threshold. These results indicate that the common IVS1 GAA splicing variant in Pompe disease is subject to negative regulation, and inhibition of a splicing regulatory element using AONs is able to restore canonical GAA splicing and endogenous GAA enzyme activity

Binary Models for Marginal Independence

Log-linear models are a classical tool for the analysis of contingency tables. In particular, the subclass of graphical log-linear models provides a general framework for modelling conditional independences. However, with the exception of special structures, marginal independence hypotheses cannot be accommodated by these traditional models. Focusing on binary variables, we present a model class that provides a framework for modelling marginal independences in contingency tables. The approach taken is graphical and draws on analogies to multivariate Gaussian models for marginal independence. For the graphical model representation we use bi-directed graphs, which are in the tradition of path diagrams. We show how the models can be parameterized in a simple fashion, and how maximum likelihood estimation can be performed using a version of the Iterated Conditional Fitting algorithm. Finally we consider combining these models with symmetry restrictions

Strengths and Weaknesses for Climate Change: Adaptation in Water Governance: A Comparison Across Six European Regions

This chapter comparatively analyses the policy and governance contexts of six European regions that are affected by different hydrological impacts of climate change. The results demonstrate that a major governance strength across regions lies in the organization of management capacities to deal with existing water-related risks. For example, the Dutch context focuses on water safety, Cyprus has a clear policy framework to deal with water scarcity and in the Norwegian city of Bergen, wastewater is well managed. As a consequence of this focus on present-day risks, climate adaptation governance also focuses on historical risks. New or exacerbated risks posed by climate change remain largely untreated, and responsibilities for dealing with climate-related risks remain unspecified, as also becomes clear in the German and Spanish cases. A high degree of governmental fragmentation is identified as another point of weakness. Identified most clearly in the Portuguese case but recognizable in all regional contexts, different subdomains of water management are dealt with under separate policies and are governed by different responsible agencies. Consequently, information about current performance of the water system is scattered and coordinative efforts, which are key to developing adaptation strategies, are hampered

Institutions for adaptation: do institutions allow society to adapt to the impacts of climate change?

Historisch gezien hebben instituties (formele en informele sociale regels en interactiepatronen) zich altijd ontwikkeld als reactie op sociale problemen, waaronder milieuproblemen. De laatste decennia worden gekenmerkt door toenemende economische ontwikkeling en globalisering, waardoor sociale problemen zich sneller ontwikkelen en onze kennis over deze problemen toeneemt. Belangrijke vraag is: in hoeverre maken instituties een tijdige en effectieve reactie vanuit de samenleving op de gevolgen van klimaatverandering mogelijk? Eerst is het Adaptatiewiel ontwikkeld als een methode om instituties te beoordelen op de mate waarin zij aanpassingen vanuit de samenlevingen bevorderen of belemmeren. Darmee is vervolgens de officiële Nederlandse institutionele context geëvalueerd in vier beleidssectoren (natuur, landbouw, water en ruimtelijke ordening). Ook is het Adaptatiewiel toegepast in vier case studies (Individuele Verantwoordelijkheid, Waterveiligheid, Bouwen in Laaggelegen Gebieden en Waddenzee

Shadowing in neutrino deep inelastic scattering and the determination of the strange quark distribution

We discuss shadowing corrections to the structure function $F_2$ in neutrino deep-inelastic scattering on heavy nuclear targets. In particular, we examine the role played by shadowing in the comparison of the structure functions $F_2$ measured in neutrino and muon deep inelastic scattering. The importance of shadowing corrections in the determination of the strange quark distributions is explained.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

Constraints on a Massive Dirac Neutrino Model

We examine constraints on a simple neutrino model in which there are three massless and three massive Dirac neutrinos and in which the left handed neutrinos are linear combinations of doublet and singlet neutrinos. We examine constraints from direct decays into heavy neutrinos, indirect effects on electroweak parameters, and flavor changing processes. We combine these constraints to examine the allowed mass range for the heavy neutrinos of each of the three generations.Comment: latex, 29 pages, 7 figures (not included), MIT-CTP-221