What Order in Progress? : Brazilian Energy Policies and Climate Change in the Beginning of the 21st Century

Brazil is no doubt one of the world’s most influential regions with regards to energy and climatechange. Due to its sheer size and stunning economic growth, the country is generally regarded as one of the emerging economies expected to become dominant players in the global economy. It is also thehome of one the world’s most complex ecosystems, the Amazon rainforest, which is viewed as an important component in the global climate system. With regards to energy, Brazil has for many years pursued active policies to promote hydroenergy and the use of biofuels. Consequently, it has a unique energy profile with a high degree of renewable energy. Over the years, Brazil has also played anactive role in the global climate change negotiations and was, among other things, the principal instigator of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). At the same time, the use of fossil fuels is currently growing at a rapid pace and the country recently emerged as the world’s fifth largest emitterof greenhouse gases (GHG).In view of this background, the express purpose of this study is to discuss Brazilian energy and climate policies, through an analysis of the current development in the energy sector more specifically. What explains the present situation? What are the current trends and what are the critical factors that could possibly influence future activities? This implies that the study has both adescriptive as well as an explanatory ambition. One important contribution is to provide an overview of current trends in contemporary Brazilian energy and climate policies. Another is to identify some of the drivers and obstacles that will be critical also for future policies. Hence, the study combines amore general descriptive analysis with five in-depth analyses from five pertinent energy sectors (natural gas, ethanol, energetic cogeneration, biodiesel, and the use of charcoal)

America in the scope : A post-colonial study of American Sniper, mourning and nationalism

The aim of this thesis is to discuss how themes of nationalism, mourning and death can be implemented in a film such as American Sniper to reproduce the idea of nation states as well as enforce nationalism. Through a close analysis of chosen sequences in the film the thesis presents a mode of looking at film, rooted in the given themes, which will help analyzing similar films with these reoccurring themes. The study shows not only how a film such as American Sniper can be seen as a form of reproducing banal nationalism but also how given narratives devalue the life of Others while reinforcing the idea of how Our lives are valuable, essentially creating a rift between who can be mourned and who can be forgotten. This rift can be seen in the narrative of the film and it is argued that this is acting as a form of banal propaganda, enforcing Our right to perpetrate violence against Them

America in the scope : A post-colonial study of American Sniper, mourning and nationalism

The aim of this thesis is to discuss how themes of nationalism, mourning and death can be implemented in a film such as American Sniper to reproduce the idea of nation states as well as enforce nationalism. Through a close analysis of chosen sequences in the film the thesis presents a mode of looking at film, rooted in the given themes, which will help analyzing similar films with these reoccurring themes. The study shows not only how a film such as American Sniper can be seen as a form of reproducing banal nationalism but also how given narratives devalue the life of Others while reinforcing the idea of how Our lives are valuable, essentially creating a rift between who can be mourned and who can be forgotten. This rift can be seen in the narrative of the film and it is argued that this is acting as a form of banal propaganda, enforcing Our right to perpetrate violence against Them

Together Alone : BASIC countries and the climate change conundrum

Siden 2009 har Brasilien, Sydafrika, Indien og Kina – de såkaldte BASIC-lande – samarbejdet i de internationale klimaforhandlinger. Dette afspejler deres stræben efter en større indflydelse på den globale politik. Men der er nogle der hævder at gruppens fremgangsmåde har blokeret for fremskridt i forhandlingerne. Dette er dog en overfladisk betragtning. Hvis man ønsker en reel indsigt i BASIC-gruppens fremgangsmåde, er det nødvendigt at forstå udviklingsproblemerne i hvert enkelt land og den geopolitiske værdi som de ser i et samarbejde. Der er tale om fire forskellige lande, og derfor er det de indenrigspolitiske prioriteringer som definerer grænserne for deres samarbejde, og hvad de kan bidrage med i klimadiskussionerne. Denne rapport, som Nordisk Ministerråd har bestilt fra Stockholm Environment Institute, giver en mere nuanceret forståelse for BASIC-samarbejdet. En sådan forståelse er af afgørende betydning hvis de internationale klimaforhandlinger skal lykkes

European validation of an image-derived AI-based short-term risk model for individualized breast cancer screening-a nested case-control study

Background: Image-derived artificial intelligence (AI)-based risk models for breast cancer have shown high discriminatory performances compared with clinical risk models based on family history and lifestyle factors. However, little is known about their generalizability across European screening settings. We therefore investigated the discriminatory performances of an AI-based risk model in European screening settings. Methods: Using four European screening populations in three countries (Italy, Spain, Germany) screened between 2009 and 2020 for women aged 45-69, we performed a nested case-control study to assess the predictive performance of an AI-based risk model. In total, 739 women with incident breast cancers were included together with 7812 controls matched on year of study-entry. Mammographic features (density, microcalcifications, masses, left-right breast asymmetries of these features) were extracted using AI from negative digital mammograms at study-entry. Two-year absolute risks of breast cancer were predicted and assessed after two years of follow-up. Adjusted risk stratification performance metrics were reported per clinical guidelines. Findings: The overall adjusted Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve (aAUC) of the AI risk model was 0.72 (95% CI 0.70-0.75) for breast cancers developed in four screening populations. In the 6.2% [529/8551] of women at high risk using the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines thresholds, cancers were more likely diagnosed after 2 years follow-up, risk-ratio (RR) 6.7 (95% CI 5.6-8.0), compared with the 69% [5907/8551] of women classified at general risk by the model. Similar risk-ratios were observed across levels of mammographic density. Interpretation: The AI risk model showed generalizable discriminatory performances across European populations and, predicted ∼30% of clinically relevant stage 2 and higher breast cancers in ∼6% of high-risk women who were sent home with a negative mammogram. Similar results were seen in women with fatty and dense breasts. Funding: Swedish Research Council

Molecular markers of DNA repair and brain metabolism correlate with cognition in centenarians

Oxidative stress is an important factor in age-associated neurodegeneration. Accordingly, mitochondrial dysfunction and genomic instability have been considered as key hallmarks of aging and have important roles in age-associated cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disorders. In order to evaluate whether maintenance of cognitive abilities at very old age is associated with key hallmarks of aging, we measured mitochondrial bioenergetics, mitochondrial DNA copy number and DNA repair capacity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from centenarians in a Danish 1915 birth cohort (n = 120). Also, the circulating levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, NAD+ /NADH and carbonylated proteins were measured in plasma of the centenarians and correlated to cognitive capacity. Mitochondrial respiration was well preserved in the centenarian cohort when compared to young individuals (21–35 years of age, n = 33). When correlating cognitive performance of the centenarians with mitochondrial function such as basal respiration, ATP production, reserve capacity and maximal respiration, no overall correlations were observed, but when stratifying by sex, inverse associations were observed in the males (p < 0.05). Centenarians with the most severe cognitive impairment displayed the lowest activity of the central DNA repair enzyme, APE1 (p < 0.05). A positive correlation between cognitive capacity and levels of NAD+ /NADH was observed (p < 0.05), which may be because NAD+ /NADH consuming enzyme activities strive to reduce the oxidative DNA damage load. Also, circulating protein carbonylation was lowest in centenarians with highest cognitive capacity (p < 0.05). An opposite trend was observed for levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (p = 0.17). Our results suggest that maintenance of cognitive capacity at very old age may be associated with cellular mechanisms related to oxidative stress and DNA metabolism