The Recent Overview and Prospects of Nuclear Power Policy and Industrial Strategies in the UK, Italy and Sweden

European countries that had moved away from nuclear energy or frozen the construction of new nuclear power plants have begun to return to the construction due to their pursuit of low-carbon electricity sources, energy security and requirements for replacements for existing nuclear plants. Particularly, we should pay attention to developments in the UK that vowed to launch the construction of new nuclear power plants in its 2007 Energy White Paper, and in Italy and Sweden that have begun to reconsider their legal ban on new nuclear plants. These countries launched nuclear power generation development comparatively in the early stage in the world, and built solid nuclear industry infrastructure, however after that, suspended the construction of new nuclear power plants for energy-related or economic reasons. In view of recent conditions, however, they are trying to reintroduce nuclear energy or expand nuclear energy use. Given these points, the three countries are viewed as symbols of Europes return to nuclear energy.nuclear energy, nuclear power, regulation, energy security, carbon emissions

Deriving column-integrated thermospheric temperature with the N-2 Lyman-Birge-Hopfield (2,0) band

This paper presents a new technique to derive thermospheric temperature from space-based disk observations of far ultraviolet airglow. The technique, guided by findings from principal component analysis of synthetic daytime Lyman&ndash;Birge&ndash;Hopfield&nbsp;(LBH) disk emissions, uses a ratio of the emissions in two spectral channels that together span the LBH&nbsp;(2,0) band to determine the change in band shape with respect to a change in the rotational temperature of N2. The two-channel-ratio approach limits representativeness and measurement error by only requiring measurement of the relative magnitudes between two spectral channels and not radiometrically calibrated intensities, simplifying the forward model from a full radiative transfer model to a vibrational&ndash;rotational band model. It is shown that the derived temperature should be interpreted as a column-integrated property as opposed to a temperature at a specified altitude without utilization of a priori information of the thermospheric temperature profile. The two-channel-ratio approach is demonstrated using NASA GOLD Level&nbsp;1C disk emission data for the period of 2&ndash;8&nbsp;November&nbsp;2018 during which a moderate geomagnetic storm has occurred. Due to the lack of independent thermospheric temperature observations, the efficacy of the approach is validated through comparisons of the column-integrated temperature derived from GOLD Level&nbsp;1C data with the GOLD Level&nbsp;2 temperature product as well as temperatures from first principle and empirical models. The storm-time thermospheric response manifested in the column-integrated temperature is also shown to corroborate well with hemispherically integrated Joule heating rates, ESA SWARM mass density at 460&thinsp;km, and GOLD Level&nbsp;2 column O/N2 ratio.</p

Lower-thermosphere–ionosphere (LTI) quantities: current status of measuring techniques and models

The lower-thermosphere&ndash;ionosphere (LTI) system consists of the upper atmosphere and the lower part of the ionosphere and as such comprises a complex system coupled to both the atmosphere below and space above. The atmospheric part of the LTI is dominated by laws of continuum fluid dynamics and chemistry, while the ionosphere is a plasma system controlled by electromagnetic forces driven by the magnetosphere, the solar wind, as well as the wind dynamo. The LTI is hence a domain controlled by many different physical processes. However, systematic in situ measurements within this region are severely lacking, although the LTI is located only 80 to 200&thinsp;km above the surface of our planet. This paper reviews the current state of the art in measuring the LTI, either in situ or by several different remote-sensing methods. We begin by outlining the open questions within the LTI requiring high-quality in situ measurements, before reviewing directly observable parameters and their most important derivatives. The motivation for this review has arisen from the recent retention of the Daedalus mission as one among three competing mission candidates within the European Space Agency (ESA) Earth Explorer 10 Programme. However, this paper intends to cover the LTI parameters such that it can be used as a background scientific reference for any mission targeting in situ observations of the LTI. &nbsp;</p

Htr2a-Expressing Cells in the Central Amygdala Control the Hierarchy between Innate and Learned Fear

SummaryFear is induced by innate and learned mechanisms involving separate pathways. Here, we used an olfactory-mediated innate-fear versus learned-fear paradigm to investigate how these pathways are integrated. Notably, prior presentation of innate-fear stimuli inhibited learned-freezing response, but not vice versa. Whole-brain mapping and pharmacological screening indicated that serotonin-2A receptor (Htr2a)-expressing cells in the central amygdala (CeA) control both innate and learned freezing, but in opposing directions. In vivo fiber photometry analyses in freely moving mice indicated that innate but not learned-fear stimuli suppressed the activity of Htr2a-expressing CeA cells. Artificial inactivation of these cells upregulated innate-freezing response and downregulated learned-freezing response. Thus, Htr2a-expressing CeA cells serve as a hierarchy generator, prioritizing innate fear over learned fear

The impact of FORMOSAT-5/AIP observations on the ionospheric space weather

This paper assimilates the in-situ O+ fluxes observations obtained from the Advanced Ionospheric Probe (AIP) onboard the upcoming FORMOSAT-5 (FS-5) satellite and evaluates its possible impact on the ionospheric space weather forecast model. The Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE), designed for the global O+ fluxes, is shown to improve the electron density specification in the vicinity of satellite orbits. The root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of the ionospheric electron density obtained from assimilating the daytime O+ fluxes could be improved by ~10 and ~5% for the forecast and nowcast, respectively. Although the improvement of nighttime O+ flux assimilation is less significant compared to the daytime assimilation, it still reveals impacts on the model result. This suggests that nighttime observations might not be sufficient to alter the model trajectory in the positive direction as with the daytime result. Alternative data assimilation approaches, such as assimilation of the empirical model built by using the nighttime FS-5/AIP together with other existing satellite observations of O+ flux could obtain better accuracy of the electron density forecast

Categorization of 77 dystrophin exons into 5 groups by a decision tree using indexes of splicing regulatory factors as decision markers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal muscle-wasting disease, is characterized by dystrophin deficiency caused by mutations in the <it>dystrophin </it>gene. Skipping of a target <it>dystrophin </it>exon during splicing with antisense oligonucleotides is attracting much attention as the most plausible way to express dystrophin in DMD. Antisense oligonucleotides have been designed against splicing regulatory sequences such as splicing enhancer sequences of target exons. Recently, we reported that a chemical kinase inhibitor specifically enhances the skipping of mutated <it>dystrophin </it>exon 31, indicating the existence of exon-specific splicing regulatory systems. However, the basis for such individual regulatory systems is largely unknown. Here, we categorized the <it>dystrophin </it>exons in terms of their splicing regulatory factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using a computer-based machine learning system, we first constructed a decision tree separating 77 authentic from 14 known cryptic exons using 25 indexes of splicing regulatory factors as decision markers. We evaluated the classification accuracy of a novel cryptic exon (exon 11a) identified in this study. However, the tree mislabeled exon 11a as a true exon. Therefore, we re-constructed the decision tree to separate all 15 cryptic exons. The revised decision tree categorized the 77 authentic exons into five groups. Furthermore, all nine disease-associated novel exons were successfully categorized as exons, validating the decision tree. One group, consisting of 30 exons, was characterized by a high density of exonic splicing enhancer sequences. This suggests that AOs targeting splicing enhancer sequences would efficiently induce skipping of exons belonging to this group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The decision tree categorized the 77 authentic exons into five groups. Our classification may help to establish the strategy for exon skipping therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.</p

Space-Based Sentinels for Measurement of Infrared Cooling in the Thermosphere for Space Weather Nowcasting

Infrared radiative cooling by nitric oxide (NO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) modulates the thermospheres density and thermal response to geomagnetic storms. Satellite tracking and collision avoidance planning require accurate density forecasts during these events. Over the past several years, failed density forecasts have been tied to the onset of rapid and significant cooling due to production of NO and its associated radiative cooling via emission of infrared radiation at 5.3 m. These results have been diagnosed, after the fact, through analyses of measurements of infrared cooling made by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry instrument now in orbit over 16 years on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite. Radiative cooling rates for NO and CO2 have been further shown to be directly correlated with composition and exospheric temperature changes during geomagnetic storms. These results strongly suggest that a network of smallsats observing the infrared radiative cooling of the thermosphere could serve as space weather sentinels. These sentinels would observe and provide radiative cooling rate data in real time to generate nowcasts of density and aerodynamic drag on space vehicles. Currently, radiative cooling is not directly considered in operational space weather forecast models. In addition, recent research has shown that different geomagnetic storm types generate substantially different infrared radiative response, and hence, substantially different thermospheric density response. The ability to identify these storms, and to measure and predict the Earths response to them, should enable substantial improvement in thermospheric density forecasts