GENDER, PENSIONS AND INCOME IN RETIREMENT. ESRI RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 87 SEPTEMBER 2019

This report examines key dimensions of the policy debate around gender and pensions in Ireland, namely the gender pension gap, income poverty, and financial decision-making. The research summarises three studies carried out as part of a programme of research at the Economic and Social Research institute (ESRI) funded by the Pensions Council. Women may face a number of potential issues both before and during retirement that can have a cumulative impact resulting in significantly lower financial security in retirement than men. In retirement, pension income accounts for most of the income of men and women in Ireland (Central Statistics Office (CSO), 2013). A woman aged 65–79 in the EU-28 received a pension that was on average 38 per cent lower than her male counterpart in 2016; the corresponding figure for Ireland was 26 per cent (European Commission, 2018). Overall, the older population has fared better than other age groups in terms of the experience of income poverty in Ireland in recent years. However, there remains a proportion (currently just under 9 per cent) who live in income poverty (CSO, 2018), despite the fact that the level of older age state benefits should be sufficient to keep this group out of income poverty. Demographic trends mean that older women, who live longer than men, will make up a larger share of the population, and will be increasingly likely to live alone (European Commission, 2018). This means that older women will need to assume greater responsibility for their own financial security in older age. For any policy to tackle successfully gender differences in economic outcomes in older age, it is also important to understand how men and women may differ in terms of financial decision-making. Decisions about many aspects of economic life are shaped by attitudes to risk, time preferences and financial literacy skills, and there is evidence that men and women differ in some aspects of these key dimensions of decision making

Environmental, social and economic sustainability considerations of aquaponics. The case of an aquaponic system at a Norwegian high school

Prosjektleder: Gabrielle HairabedianThis report covers how aquaponics contributes to the sustainability transition by discussing some of the main positive and negative environmental, social and economic aspects. It does this by taking a closer look into how aquaponics relates to different aspects of food systems, land and resource use, environmental pollution and material waste, and societal benefits. It considers how the scale and purpose of aquaponics might impact its economic viability and costs by demonstrating the actual work put into an aquaponic system in order to gain a better understanding of the inputs and outputs required to run such a system for non-commercial users. It also highlights some of the experiences learned through constructing and operating the Small-Scale Urban Pilot Installation (SUPI) aquaponic system developed within the USAGE (Urban Stormwater Aquaponics Garden Environment) project at the high school/upper secondary school Natur videregående skole (Natur VGS) in Oslo, Norway.EEA/Norway Grants 2014-2021 through NCBR NOR/IdeaLab/USAGE/0004/2020publishedVersio

A forensic investigation on the persistence of organic gunshot residues

Gunshot residues (GSR) are a potential form of forensic traces in firearm-related events. In most forensic laboratories, GSR analyses focus on the detection and characterisation of the inorganic components (IGSR), which are mainly particles containing mixtures of lead, barium and antimony originating from the primer. The increasing prevalence of heavy metal-free ammunition challenges the current protocols used for IGSR analysis. To provide complementary information to IGSR particles, the current study concentrated on the organic components (OGSR) arising from the combustion of the propellant. The study focused on four compounds well-known as being part of OGSR: ethylcentralite (EC), methylcentralite (MC), diphenylamine (DPA), N-nitrosodiphenylamine (N-nDPA). This study assessed the retention of these OGSR traces on a shooter’s hands. The overall project aim was to provide appropriate information regarding OGSR persistence, which can be suitable to be integrated into the interpretation framework of OGSR as recommended by the recent ENFSI Guideline for Evaluative Reporting in Forensic Science. The persistence was studied through several intervals ranging from immediately after discharge to four hours and two ammunition calibres were chosen: .40 S&W calibre, used by the NSW Police Force; and .357 Magnum, which is frequently encountered in Australian casework. This study successfully detected the compounds of interest up to four hours after discharge. The trends displayed a large decrease in the amount detected during the first hour. A large variability was also observed due to numerous factors involved in the production, deposition and collection of OGSR

Spontaneous generation, enhanced propagation and optical imprinting of quantized vortices and dark solitons in a polariton superfluid: towards the control of quantum turbulence

In resonantly pumped polariton superfluids we recently explored a new regime based on the bistability of the polariton system to enhance the propagation of polariton fluids up to macroscopic distances. This technique together with an all-optical imprinting method allowed the generation and control of various topological excitations such as quantized vortices and dark solitons. The flexibility and scalability of the new experimental scheme opens the way to the systematic study of quantum turbulence in driven dissipative quantum fluids of light. In this article we review the basic working principles of the bistability enhanced propagation and of the imprinting technique and we discuss the main achieved results as well as the most promising future research directions.Comment: Review, 12 pages, 16 figure

Stronger and More Vulnerable: A Balanced View of the Impacts of the NICU Experience on Parents

For parents, the experience of having an infant in the NICU is often psychologically traumatic. No parent can be fully prepared for the extreme stress and range of emotions of caring for a critically ill newborn. As health care providers familiar with the NICU, we thought that we understood the impact of the NICU on parents. But we were not prepared to see the children in our own families as NICU patients. Here are some of the lessons our NICU experience has taught us. We offer these lessons in the hope of helping health professionals consider a balanced view of the NICU's impact on families

Clinical practice guidelines for the care of girls and women with Turner syndrome:Proceedings from the 2023 Aarhus International Turner Syndrome Meeting

Turner syndrome (TS) affects 50 per 100 000 females. TS affects multiple organs through all stages of life, necessitating multidisciplinary care. This guideline extends previous ones and includes important new advances, within diagnostics and genetics, estrogen treatment, fertility, co-morbidities, and neurocognition and neuropsychology. Exploratory meetings were held in 2021 in Europe and United States culminating with a consensus meeting in Aarhus, Denmark in June 2023. Prior to this, eight groups addressed important areas in TS care: (1) diagnosis and genetics, (2) growth, (3) puberty and estrogen treatment, (4) cardiovascular health, (5) transition, (6) fertility assessment, monitoring, and counselling, (7) health surveillance for comorbidities throughout the lifespan, and (8) neurocognition and its implications for mental health and well-being. Each group produced proposals for the present guidelines, which were meticulously discussed by the entire group. Four pertinent questions were submitted for formal GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) evaluation with systematic review of the literature. The guidelines project was initiated by the European Society for Endocrinology and the Pediatric Endocrine Society, in collaboration with members from the European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, the European Reference Network on Rare Endocrine Conditions, the Society for Endocrinology, and the European Society of Cardiology, Japanese Society for Pediatric Endocrinology, Australia and New Zealand Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Latin American Society for Pediatric Endocrinology, Arab Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, and the Asia Pacific Pediatric Endocrine Society. Advocacy groups appointed representatives for pre-meeting discussions and the consensus meeting.</p

Notochordal cell-based treatment strategies and their potential in intervertebral disc regeneration

Chronic low back pain is the number one cause of years lived with disability. In about 40% of patients, chronic lower back pain is related to intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration. The standard-of-care focuses on symptomatic relief, while surgery is the last resort. Emerging therapeutic strategies target the underlying cause of IVD degeneration and increasingly focus on the relatively overlooked notochordal cells (NCs). NCs are derived from the notochord and once the notochord regresses they remain in the core of the developing IVD, the nucleus pulposus. The large vacuolated NCs rapidly decline after birth and are replaced by the smaller nucleus pulposus cells with maturation, ageing, and degeneration. Here, we provide an update on the journey of NCs and discuss the cell markers and tools that can be used to study their fate and regenerative capacity. We review the therapeutic potential of NCs for the treatment of IVD-related lower back pain and outline important future directions in this area. Promising studies indicate that NCs and their secretome exerts regenerative effects, via increased proliferation, extracellular matrix production, and anti-inflammatory effects. Reports on NC-like cells derived from embryonic- or induced pluripotent-stem cells claim to have successfully generated NC-like cells but did not compare them with native NCs for phenotypic markers or in terms of their regenerative capacity. Altogether, this is an emerging and active field of research with exciting possibilities. NC-based studies demonstrate that cues from developmental biology can pave the path for future clinical therapies focused on regenerating the diseased IVD

Klasseromsmodellsystem for akvaponi i utdanningen

Prosjektleder: Gabrielle HairabedianNorsk oversettelse av NIVA-rapport 7929-2024Denne rapporten presenterer et klasseromsmodellsystem (KMS) eller undervisningsverktøy som kan brukes av lærere for å sikre kollektiv læring gjennom formidling av moduler knyttet til akvaponi. Det kan tilpasses og tilrettelegges ut fra behov og bruker akvaponi som læringsarena for å utforske aktuelle globale utfordringer. Det knytter seg spesifikt til en småskala urban pilotinstallasjon som er utviklet i prosjektet USAGE ved Natur videregående skole (Natur vgs.) i Oslo. Kunnskapsløftet 2020 har gitt et generelt utgangspunkt for dette arbeidet sammen med spesifikke fag og læreplaner for Natur vgs. Læreplanene som ble valgt: Naturbruk, Naturfag, Engelsk, Matematikk, Landbruk og gartnernæring, Kjemi og Biologi. Seks tematiske undervisnings- og læringsmoduler gir bakgrunnsinformasjon, eksempler på aktiviteter og diskusjonsemner knyttet til akvaponi. De modulene er: Bærekraft; Plantevekst, -helse og -utvikling; Dyrevelferd; Vannkjemi og -kvalitet; Urban dyrking; og Økonomi- og forretningsdrift. Akvaponi gir mulighet for læring på tvers av mange fag og kan spesielt berike undervisningen i STEM-fagene. Denne KMS-en har som mål å gi standardmetoder for å bruke akvaponi i undervisningen eller som læringsarena i klasserommene på videregående skoler i Norge.Finansiert av EEA/Norway programmet 2014-2021 via NCBR NOR/IdeaLab/USAGE/0004/202

Linking the sectoral employment structure and household poverty in the United Kingdom

Structural changes in the labour markets of developed economies, and changes in their institutional characteristics, have led to growing unease about the nature of low-paid employment. Related concerns have been expressed about the persistence of low-pay, the fragmentation of work and the growth of under-employment. While all these factors have potential implications for individuals’ earnings, less is known about the connection between labour market change, patterns of sectoral growth and decline and household poverty outcomes. This article shows distinct patterns of poverty outcomes by sector of employment, after controlling for other factors. However, household characteristics, in particular the presence of a second earner, do strongly mitigate the poverty risk. Overall, the findings demonstrate that policymakers need to develop a coherent policy towards poverty that recognises the nature of jobs growth and the distribution of ‘good jobs’ across households

The disease-specific clinical trial network for primary ciliary dyskinesia: PCD-CTN

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare genetic disorder characterised by impaired mucociliary clearance leading to irreversible lung damage. In contrast to other rare lung diseases like cystic fibrosis (CF), there are only few clinical trials and limited evidence-based treatments. Management is mainly based on expert opinions and treatment is challenging due to a wide range of clinical manifestations and disease severity. To improve clinical and translational research and facilitate development of new treatments, the clinical trial network for PCD (PCD-CTN) was founded in 2020 under the framework of the European Reference Network (ERN)-LUNG PCD Core. Applications from European PCD sites interested in participating in the PCD-CTN were requested. Inclusion criteria consisted of patient numbers, membership of ERN-LUNG PCD Core, use of associated standards of care, experience in PCD and/or CF clinical research, resources to run clinical trials, good clinical practice (GCP) certifications and institutional support. So far, applications from 22 trial sites in 18 European countries have been approved, including >1400 adult and >1600 paediatric individuals with PCD. The PCD-CTN is headed by a coordinating centre and consists of a steering and executive committee, a data safety monitoring board and committees for protocol review, training and standardisation. A strong association with patient organisations and industrial companies are further cornerstones. All participating trial sites agreed on a code of conduct. As CTNs from other diseases have demonstrated successfully, this newly formed PCD-CTN operates to establish evidence-based treatments for this orphan disease and to bring new personalised treatment approaches to patients