•First attempt to analyze the evolution of policy mixes in a larger-n study.•Propose ‘balance’ as a new policy mix characteristic.•Conceptualize policy mix design features, linking policy design and ...mix literatures.•Countries’ policy mix dynamics vary strongly regarding some variables.•Discuss implications of our findings for future policy mix research.
Complex societal or environmental problems require fast and substantial socio-technical transitions. For instance, in the case of climate change, these transitions need to take place in the energy, transport and several industry sectors. To induce and accelerate such transitions, numerous policy interventions are required, which interact with each other in policy mixes. While several conceptual studies on policy mixes have been published recently, there is very little empirical research apart from single case or small-n studies. It has been prominently argued that the debate about policy mixes has reached an impasse partly due to this lack of empirical work. This paper addresses this gap by providing a first analysis of the temporal dynamics of complex policy mixes. To do so, we develop a conceptualization and measurement of policy mix balance across instrument types as well as policy mix design features (in the form of intensity as a general and technology specificity as a technology-focused design feature). This allows us to answer the question how temporal dynamics of policy mixes differ between countries regarding their balance and design features. Our measurement approach is developed bottom-up, i.e., policies are assessed individually and then aggregated systematically at the policy mix level. This enables overcoming the ‘dependent variable problem in the study of policy change’, i.e., the problem of measuring policy output. More specifically, we develop a comparative dataset of 522 renewable energy policies in nine OECD countries. Our analysis shows that countries’ policy mix dynamics vary strongly regarding some variables (e.g., technology specificity) but less regarding others (e.g., balance). As a validity check, we also test the effects of these mix dynamics on policy outcome in the form of renewable energy technology diffusion. We reflect our findings in light of the theoretical debates around policy mixes and policy design and discuss how our results provoke an agenda for the new generation of research on policy mixes. We specifically discuss avenues for future research with a particular focus on the ‘politics of policy mixes’.
Many studies have investigated the association between numerical magnitude processing skills, as assessed by the numerical magnitude comparison task, and broader mathematical competence, e.g. ...counting, arithmetic, or algebra. Most correlations were positive but varied considerably in their strengths. It remains unclear whether and to what extent the strength of these associations differs systematically between non‐symbolic and symbolic magnitude comparison tasks and whether age, magnitude comparison measures or mathematical competence measures are additional moderators. We investigated these questions by means of a meta‐analysis. The literature search yielded 45 articles reporting 284 effect sizes found with 17,201 participants. Effect sizes were combined by means of a two‐level random‐effects regression model. The effect size was significantly higher for the symbolic (r = .302, 95% CI .243, .361) than for the non‐symbolic (r = .241, 95% CI .198, .284) magnitude comparison task and decreased very slightly with age. The correlation was higher for solution rates and Weber fractions than for alternative measures of comparison proficiency. It was higher for mathematical competencies that rely more heavily on the processing of magnitudes (i.e. mental arithmetic and early mathematical abilities) than for others. The results support the view that magnitude processing is reliably associated with mathematical competence over the lifespan in a wide range of tasks, measures and mathematical subdomains. The association is stronger for symbolic than for non‐symbolic numerical magnitude processing. So symbolic magnitude processing might be a more eligible candidate to be targeted by diagnostic screening instruments and interventions for school‐aged children and for adults.
This is the first meta‐analysis on the association of non‐symbolic and symbolic magnitude comparison with mathematical competence. We synthesized 284 effect sizes from 17,201 participants. Associations with mathematical competence were stronger for symbolic than for non‐symbolic measures. Measures of comparison and mathematical competence strongly moderated the effect sizes.
Low-carbon energy technologies (renewable energy and energy efficiency) are considered essential to achieve climate change mitigation goals, so a rapid deployment is needed. However there is a ...significant financing gap and many policymakers are concerned that investment for the large-scale deployment of low-carbon technologies will not materialise quickly enough. State investment banks (SIBs) can play a key role in closing this finance gap and leverage additional private finance. Based on 52 interviews, this paper presents empirical evidence on the role of three SIBs in addressing the barriers to financing low-carbon energy projects; the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) in Australia, the Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) in Germany and the Green Investment Bank (GIB) in the UK. We investigate the activities and financial instruments offered by SIBs and compare these to the need for such from low-carbon developers when sourcing finance. Findings show that aside from capital provision and de-risking, SIBs take a much broader role in catalysing private investments into low-carbon investments, including enabling financial sector learning, creating trust for projects and taking a first or early mover role to help projects gain a track record.
•The role of State Investment Banks (SIBs) is assessed.•Australia's CEFC, Germany's KfW and the UK's GIB are investigated.•SIBs take a broader role than capital provision and de-risking to mobilise finance.•SIBs take an educational role to enable financial sector learning.•SIBs signal trust and produce track records to crowd-in private finance.
In many species, genomic data have revealed pervasive adaptive evolution indicated by the fixation of beneficial alleles. However, when selection pressures are highly variable along a species' range ...or through time adaptive alleles may persist at intermediate frequencies for long periods. So called "balanced polymorphisms" have long been understood to be an important component of standing genetic variation, yet direct evidence of the strength of balancing selection and the stability and prevalence of balanced polymorphisms has remained elusive. We hypothesized that environmental fluctuations among seasons in a North American orchard would impose temporally variable selection on Drosophila melanogaster that would drive repeatable adaptive oscillations at balanced polymorphisms. We identified hundreds of polymorphisms whose frequency oscillates among seasons and argue that these loci are subject to strong, temporally variable selection. We show that these polymorphisms respond to acute and persistent changes in climate and are associated in predictable ways with seasonally variable phenotypes. In addition, our results suggest that adaptively oscillating polymorphisms are likely millions of years old, with some possibly predating the divergence between D. melanogaster and D. simulans. Taken together, our results are consistent with a model of balancing selection wherein rapid temporal fluctuations in climate over generational time promotes adaptive genetic diversity at loci underlying polygenic variation in fitness related phenotypes.
Eukaryotic cells have a layer of heterochromatin at the nuclear periphery. To investigate mechanisms regulating chromatin distribution, we analyzed heterochromatin organization in different tissues ...and species, including mice with mutations in the lamin B receptor (Lbr) and lamin A (Lmna) genes that encode nuclear envelope (NE) proteins. We identified LBR- and lamin-A/C-dependent mechanisms tethering heterochromatin to the NE. The two tethers are sequentially used during cellular differentiation and development: first the LBR- and then the lamin-A/C-dependent tether. The absence of both LBR and lamin A/C leads to loss of peripheral heterochromatin and an inverted architecture with heterochromatin localizing to the nuclear interior. Myoblast transcriptome analyses indicated that selective disruption of the LBR- or lamin-A-dependent heterochromatin tethers have opposite effects on muscle gene expression, either increasing or decreasing, respectively. These results show how changes in NE composition contribute to regulating heterochromatin positioning, gene expression, and cellular differentiation during development.
Display omitted
► LBR- and lamin-A/C-dependent tethers maintain peripheral heterochromatin ► In their absence, all heterochromatin clusters in the nuclear interior ► During cellular differentiation, the LBR tether precedes the lamin A/C tether ► Lamin A/C promotes, whereas LBR delays myogenic differentiation
The lamin B receptor and lamin A/C have sequential roles in the tethering of peripheral heterochromatin during cellular differentiation, corresponding to their differential effects on heterochromatin positioning and transcription of tissue-specific genes.
Genomes are critical units in microbiology, yet ascertaining quality in prokaryotic genome assemblies remains a formidable challenge. We present GUNC (the Genome UNClutterer), a tool that accurately ...detects and quantifies genome chimerism based on the lineage homogeneity of individual contigs using a genome's full complement of genes. GUNC complements existing approaches by targeting previously underdetected types of contamination: we conservatively estimate that 5.7% of genomes in GenBank, 5.2% in RefSeq, and 15-30% of pre-filtered "high-quality" metagenome-assembled genomes in recent studies are undetected chimeras. GUNC provides a fast and robust tool to substantially improve prokaryotic genome quality.
•We combine technology-transfer/catching-up with technology life-cycle literature.•We derive typology differentiating technologies along their capability requirements.•We discuss four cases: ...small/micro hydro, wind turbines, solar PV and electric cars.•We propose heuristic to anticipate deployment policies industry localization effects.•We derive recommendations for green-growth strategies and international support.
National ‘green growth’ strategies, which aim at decoupling economic development from adverse environmental impacts, have become a new paradigm for policymakers in developing countries. Many green growth strategies are based on policy instruments designed to incentivize the domestic deployment of relatively mature clean technologies and aim at fostering the formation of a local industry to develop and produce these technologies. While the empirical evidence on the localization effect of such policies in developing countries is mixed, there is a dearth of research systemically analyzing how differences between technologies affect patterns of localization, which could explain the observed variance. We address this gap and develop a typology which distinguishes four types of technologies requiring different types of capabilities. We do so by combining insights from the literature on technology transfer and catching-up of industries with insights from the literature on patterns of innovation across the technology life- cycle. We apply this typology to the case of low-emission development strategies and four exemplary low-carbon technologies, namely small and micro hydro power, wind turbines, electric cars, and solar cells, in order to analyze capability requirements, innovation patterns, and the effect of past deployment policies on industry localization. We synthesize these case studies and derive a heuristic to anticipate the localization effects of deployment policies for different types of technologies in countries with varying income levels. We argue that the heuristic can serve as starting point for policymakers aiming at clean technology industry localization. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible technology-specific green growth strategies for developing countries with different income levels and for international institutions supporting green growth.
Metagenomic sequencing has greatly improved our ability to profile the composition of environmental and host-associated microbial communities. However, the dependency of most methods on reference ...genomes, which are currently unavailable for a substantial fraction of microbial species, introduces estimation biases. We present an updated and functionally extended tool based on universal (i.e., reference-independent), phylogenetic marker gene (MG)-based operational taxonomic units (mOTUs) enabling the profiling of >7700 microbial species. As more than 30% of them could not previously be quantified at this taxonomic resolution, relative abundance estimates based on mOTUs are more accurate compared to other methods. As a new feature, we show that mOTUs, which are based on essential housekeeping genes, are demonstrably well-suited for quantification of basal transcriptional activity of community members. Furthermore, single nucleotide variation profiles estimated using mOTUs reflect those from whole genomes, which allows for comparing microbial strain populations (e.g., across different human body sites).
Use of antihypertensive drugs and risk of skin cancer Schmidt, S.A.J.; Schmidt, M.; Mehnert, F. ...
JEADV. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology/Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology,
August 2015, Letnik:
29, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Background
Several antihypertensive drugs are photosensitizing and may therefore act as cocarcinogens with ultraviolet radiation.
Objective
To examine whether antihypertensive drug use is associated ...with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and malignant melanoma (MM).
Methods
We used population‐based databases to conduct a case–control study including all first‐time cases of SCC (n = 2282), BCC (n = 17 242), and MM (n = 3660) in northern Denmark, 1991–2010. We matched approximately 10 controls (n = 231 743) to each case by age, sex and county using risk‐set sampling. We used conditional logistic regression to compute odds ratios (ORs) for skin cancer with 95% confidence intervals comparing ever users of antihypertensives (>2 previous prescriptions) with non‐users (≤2 previous prescriptions). We adjusted for comorbidity and comedications. We further analysed use by duration (short term: <5 years; long term: ≥5 years) and intensity (low intensity or high intensity: <50% or ≥50% prescription coverage during total duration of use, respectively).
Results
Ever users of diuretics were at increased risk of SCC (OR 1.19; 1.06–1.33), driven by potassium‐sparing agents alone (OR 1.40; 1.09–1.80) or with low‐ceiling diuretics (OR 2.68; 2.24–3.21) and by long‐term use (OR 1.41; 1.16–1.72 at low intensity; OR 1.44; 0.98–2.14 at high intensity). Ever users of sulphonamides (OR 1.49; 1.04–2.12) and non‐aldosterone antagonist potassium‐sparing agents (OR 2.26; 0.85–6.01) were at increased MM risk. The latter was also associated with BCC (OR 1.47; 1.00–2.17), as was low‐ceiling diuretics combined with potassium‐sparing agents (OR 1.23; 1.12–1.35). Long‐term, low‐intensity (OR 1.53; 1.05–2.23) and high‐intensity (OR 1.44; 0.56–3.69) angiotensin receptor blocker use was associated with MM. Estimates for angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors, β‐blockers, and calcium channel blockers were inconsistent or weak (<20% increased).
Conclusion
Long‐term angiotensin receptor blocker use was associated with risk of MM. Moreover, long‐term diuretic use was associated with SCC risk, driven by potassium‐sparing agents alone or in combination with low‐ceiling diuretics.
PDF
