State enrolment and energy-carbon transitions: syndromic experimentation and atomisation in England

This article analyses how national governments seek to enrol different subjects and objects in energy-carbon restructuring. It takes analysis beyond consideration of particular subjectivities and governmentalities to consider an expanded range of objects and subjects of governing at a distance. Developing an analytical model of ‘modes of enrolment’ focusing on power modalities, forms of policy integration and policy targets, the article explores five broad modes of enrolment employed in England. The article shows how policy across all modes of enrolment in England has increasingly tended towards disordered, syndromic experimentation and government by-project rather than any systematic programme of government

Traumatic stress and accelerated DNA methylation age: A meta-analysis

Background: Recent studies examining the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and accelerated aging, as defined by DNA methylation-based estimates of cellular age that exceed chronological age, have yielded mixed results. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of trauma exposure and PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity in association with accelerated DNA methylation age using data from 9 cohorts contributing to the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium PTSD Epigenetics Workgroup (combined N = 2186). Associations between demographic and cellular variables and accelerated DNA methylation age were also examined, as was the moderating influence of demographic variables. Results: Meta-analysis of regression coefficients from contributing cohorts revealed that childhood trauma exposure (when measured with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and lifetime PTSD severity evidenced significant, albeit small, meta-analytic associations with accelerated DNA methylation age (ps = 0.028 and 0.016, respectively). Sex, CD4T cell proportions, and natural killer cell proportions were also significantly associated with accelerated DNA methylation age (all ps < 0.02). PTSD diagnosis and lifetime trauma exposure were not associated with advanced DNA methylation age. There was no evidence of moderation of the trauma or PTSD variables by demographic factors. Conclusions: Results suggest that traumatic stress is associated with advanced epigenetic age and raise the possibility that cells integral to immune system maintenance and responsivity play a role in this. This study highlights the need for additional research into the biological mechanisms linking traumatic stress to accelerated DNA methylation age and the importance of furthering our understanding of the neurobiological and health consequences of PTSD. © 201

Industrial-Load-Shaping: The Practice of and Prospects for Utility/Industry Cooperation to Manage Peak Electricity Demand

Load-management programs designed to reduce demand for electricity during peak periods are becoming increasingly important to electric utilities. For a growing number of utilities, however, such peak-reduction programs don't go far enough in the face of new problems and challenges, and hence are proving ineffective or counterproductive. For example, many of a utility's largest customers--especially industrial customers who may be "locked into" seemingly inflexible process activities--have limited ability to respond to load-management programs that employ price signals as a central peak-reduction tool. Moreover, utilities in general are finding that vigorous efforts to reduce electric load can result in underutilization of base-load generating facilities. In these and other instances, "load-shaping," which emphasizes a shift of electric load or demand from peak to off-peak periods and provides for greater customer flexibility, may be a more effective strategy. This paper explains the need for and presents the components of a load-shaping program, and describes Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PGandE) recent experience in designing and pursuing an industrial-load-shaping program. The paper also outlines important obstacles and opportunities likely to confront other utilities and industrial customers interested in working together to develop such programs

The practice of Fairtrade support

This article employs a practice–theoretical approach in order to explore how preferences towards Fairtrade goods emerge and are sustained through engagement in varied social practices. In recent years, the rates of Fairtrade consumption have been growing steadily both within the UK and globally and this growth has been widely represented as the result of thousands of individual citizen-consumers ‘voting’ for fairer trade. This article moves away from current accounts of (Fairtrade) consumption that rely on models of conscious and expressive consumer choice and instead demonstrates how consumption is shaped by shared structures of knowledge, institutional frameworks and infrastructures of provision. In so doing, attention is drawn to the wider practice of Fairtrade support which is collectively constituted by agents from diverse social backgrounds and in which consuming Fairtrade goods forms only one part of what is means to be a ‘Fairtrade supporter’

Dataset for: Optogenetic Activation of the Central Amygdala Generates Addiction-like Preference for Reward

Drug and behavioral addictions are characterized by an intense and focused pursuit of a single reward above all others. Pursuit of the addictive reward is often compulsively sought despite adverse consequences and better alternative outcomes. Here we explored the ability of the central amygdala (CeA) to powerfully bias choice, causing specific rewards to be almost compulsively preferred. Rats were trained on an operant choice task in which they could choose to respond on either of two levers to receive a sucrose reward, one of which was paired with optogenetic stimulation of the CeA using channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2). Rats developed an almost exclusive preference for the laser-paired reward over the otherwise equal unpaired reward. We found that this preference for stimulation-paired reward persists even when a much larger sucrose reward is offered as an alternative (contingency management), or when this preferred reward is paired with adverse consequences such as progressively larger electric foot shock, time delays or effort requirements. We also report that when challenged with foot shock, a small proportion of these animals (≈ 20%), retained an exclusive laser-paired reward preference, whereas others began to seek the alternate reward when the shock reached high levels. Lastly, we confirmed that optogenetic CeA stimulation was not independently rewarding if delivered in the absence of a paired sucrose reward. These results suggest a role for the CeA in focusing motivation and desire to excessive levels, generating addiction-like behavior that persists in the face of more rewarding alternatives and adverse consequences