The MESSAGEix Integrated Assessment Model and the ix modeling platform (ixmp)

The MESSAGE Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) developed by IIASA has been a central tool of energy-environment-economy systems analysis in the global scientific and policy arena. It played a major role in the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); it provided marker scenarios of the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and the Shared Socio-Economic Pathways (SSPs); and it underpinned the analysis of the Global Energy Assessment (GEA). Alas, to provide relevant analysis for current and future challenges, numerical models of human and earth systems need to support higher spatial and temporal resolution, facilitate integration of data sources and methodologies across disciplines, and become open and transparent regarding the underlying data, methods, and the scientific workflow. In this manuscript, we present the building blocks of a new framework for an integrated assessment modeling platform; the \ecosystem" comprises: i) an open-source GAMS implementation of the MESSAGE energy++ system model integrated with the MACRO economic model; ii) a Java/database backend for version-controlled data management, iii) interfaces for the scientific programming languages Python & R for efficient input data and results processing workflows; and iv) a web-browser-based user interface for model/scenario management and intuitive \drag-and-drop" visualization of results. The framework aims to facilitate the highest level of openness for scientific analysis, bridging the need for transparency with efficient data processing and powerful numerical solvers. The platform is geared towards easy integration of data sources and models across disciplines, spatial scales and temporal disaggregation levels. All tools apply best-practice in collaborative software development, and comprehensive documentation of all building blocks and scripts is generated directly from the GAMS equations and the Java/Python/R source code

The marker quantification of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 2: a middle-of-the-road scenario for the 21st century

Studies of global environmental change make extensive use of scenarios to explore how the future can evolve under a consistent set of assumptions. The recently developed Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) create a framework for the study of climate-related scenario outcomes. Their five narratives span a wide range of worlds that vary in their challenges for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Here we provide background on the quantification that has been selected to serve as the reference, or ‘marker’, implementation for SSP2. The SSP2 narrative describes a middle-of-the-road development in the mitigation and adaptation challenges space. We explain how the narrative has been translated into quantitative assumptions in the IIASA Integrated Assessment Modelling Framework. We show that our SSP2 marker implementation occupies a central position for key metrics along the mitigation and adaptation challenge dimensions. For many dimensions the SSP2 marker implementation also reflects an extension of the historical experience, particularly in terms of carbon and energy intensity improvements in its baseline. This leads to a steady emissions increase over the 21st century, with projected end-of-century warming nearing 4 °C relative to preindustrial levels. On the other hand, SSP2 also shows that global-mean temperature increase can be limited to below 2 °C, pending stringent climate policies throughout the world. The added value of the SSP2 marker implementation for the wider scientific community is that it can serve as a starting point to further explore integrated solutions for achieving multiple societal objectives in light of the climate adaptation and mitigation challenges that society could face over the 21st century

MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM Documentation - 2020 release

These webpages document the IIASA Integrated Assessment Modeling (IAM) framework, also referred to as MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM. MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM is a global model, covering 11 world regions and was originally developed for the quantification of the so-called Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs). The documentation includes information on the spatial and temporal structure of the model, the socio-economic drivers, the energy supply and demand sector representation, the agriculture, forest and other land-use component, and the macro-economic and climate modules. It also links to the underlying MESSAGEix mathematical modeling framework which includes information on the equations governing the model dynamics

Pituitary self-priming actions of gonadotropin-releasing hormone. Kinetics of estradiol's potentiating effects on gonadotropin-releasing hormone-facilitated luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone release in healthy postmenopausal women.

We examined the kinetically distinct characteristics of estradiol's effects upon pituitary luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) release in response to pulses of exogenous gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in healthy postmenopausal individuals. The putative self-priming actions of GnRH on LH and FSH release were tested by intravenous injections of equal paired doses of GnRH (10 micrograms) before and after 1, 5, 10, and 30 d of pure estradiol-17 beta delivery via an intravaginal silastic ring. Self-priming actions of GnRH, as defined by heightened gonadotropin release in response to the second pulse of GnRH compared with the first, were completely absent in the hypoestrogenemic state. However, estradiol administration unmasked GnRH self-priming in a time-dependent fashion, with maximal expression after 5 and 10 d of steroid replacement, followed by attenuation by 30 d. Since estradiol's modulation of GnRH action was expressed differentially on LH and FSH release, we suggest that such facilitation of GnRH-stimulated pituitary LH and FSH release may provide an additional mechanism for dissociated secretion of gonadotropic hormones in health or disease

Ketamine-Enhanced Psychotherapy: Preliminary Clinical Observations on its Effects in Treating Death Anxiety

Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic commonly used by US physicians, has recently been shown to be a powerful anti-depressant and is also capable of eliciting transpersonal experiences that can be transformative. Although currently approved in the US only for use as an anesthetic, physicians there can legally prescribe it off-label to treat various psychological/ psychiatric problems and it has been used for these non-anesthetic purposes in Argentina, Iran, Mexico, Russia, and the UK, as well as in the US. The literature on using ketamine psychotherapeutically is reviewed and two case studies using ketamine-enhanced psychotherapy (KEP) for treating death anxiety in terminally-ill people are reported. The potential importance of beginning formal research on using KEP during end-of-life for those suffering death anxiety is emphasized