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Striatal dopamine (DA) has been implicated in alcohol use disorders, but it is still unclear whether or not alcohol can induce dopamine release in social drinkers. Furthermore, no data exist on dopamine responses to alcohol in dependent drinkers. We sought to characterize the DA responses to alcohol intoxication in moderately large samples of social drinkers (SD) and nontreatment-seeking alcoholics (NTS).Twenty-four SD and twenty-one NTS received two [(11)C]raclopride (RAC) PET scans; one at rest, and one during an intravenous alcohol infusion, with a prescribed ascent to a target breath alcohol concentration (BrAC), at which it was then "clamped." The alcohol clamp was started 5min after scan start, with a linear increase in BrAC over 15min to the target of 80mg%, the legal threshold for intoxication. Target BrAC was maintained for 30min. Voxel-wise binding potential (BPND) was estimated with MRTM2.IV EtOH induced significant increases in DA in the right ventral striatum in NTS, but not SD. No decreases in DA were observed in either group.Alcohol intoxication results in distinct anatomic profiles of DA responses in SD and NTS, suggesting that in NTS, the striatal DA system may process effects of alcohol intoxication differently than in SD.

The potential for optimizing, in both economic and energetic terms, the final waste treatment system in the Netherlands is evaluated in the light of the performance of new technologies. Projections of the final waste supply and waste treatment technologies are combined to construct several scenarios for waste treatment in the year 2010. Technologies include processes currently in the demonstration or pilot phase. It is concluded that final waste treatment could be performed at lower cost and with substantially greater energy recovery than at present. In a minimum cost scenario, the final waste treatment might cost 300-600 MECU/year, compared to 1000-1600 MECU/year in a reference scenario, on the assumption that conventional, but improved waste treatment technologies are used. A maximum energy recovery scenario might save 80-90 PJ primary energy per year compared to 39-47 PJ/year for the reference case. Two major competing technologies are gasification, both for biomass waste and integral waste, and fluidized bed incineration. Further development of these technologies integrated with electricity production is recommended.

The Kyoto Protocol is the first international environmental agreement that sets legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets and timetables for Annex I countries. It incorporates emissions trading and two project-based flexibility mechanisms, namely joint implementation and the clean development mechanism to help Annex I countries to meet their Kyoto targets at a lower overall cost. This paper aims to estimate the size of the potential market for all three flexibility mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol over the first commitment period 2008-2012, both on the demand side and on the supply side. Taking the year 2010 as representative of the first commitment period and based on the national communications from 35 Annex I countries, the paper first estimates the potential demand in the greenhouse gas offset market. We show that for most of the OECD countries excluding the EU, their Kyoto targets are stringent than they appear at first glance. Then, the paper addresses supplementarity constraints and provides a quantitative assessment of the implications of the EU proposal for concrete ceilings on the use of flexibility mechanisms for the division of abatement actions at home and abroad. Our results suggest that although the aggregate allowed acquisitions for the Annex I countries as a whole in 2010 from all three flexibility mechanisms under the two alternatives are well below 50% of the difference between the projected baseline emissions and the target in 2010, the proposed restrictions to each Annex I country vary, in some case even substantially. Finally, using the 12-region’s marginal abatement cost-based model, the paper estimates the contributions of three flexibility mechanisms to meet the total emissions reductions required of Annex I countries under the four trading scenarios, respectively. Our results clearly demonstrate that the fewer the restrictions on trading the gains from trading are greater. The gains are unevenly distributed, however, with Annex I countries that have the highest autarkic marginal abatement costs tending to benefit the most. With respect to non-Annex I countries, their net gains are highest when trading in hot air is not allowed. Because of a great deal of low-cost abatement opportunities available in the energy sectors of China and India and their sheer sizes of population, we found that the two countries account for about three-quarters of the total non-Annex I countries’ exported permits to the Annex I regions.

As a preliminary step to evaluating the acute neurobehavioral effects of hydrocarbon solvents and to establish a working model for extrapolating animal test data to humans, joint neurobehavioral/toxicokinetic studies were conducted which involved administering ethanol to rats and volunteers. The specific objectives of the present studies were to evaluate the acute central nervous system (CNS) effects of ethanol in rats and humans and to assess relationships between internal levels of exposure and behavioral effects. A more general objective was to validate a battery of neurobehavioral tests that could be used to carry out comparative studies in both species. Accordingly, a range of tests including standardized observational measures, spontaneous motor activity assessments and learned visual discrimination performance was utilized in rat studies to evaluate acute CNS effects. Groups of rats were given ethanol at levels of approximately 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0g/kg, with blood level measurements to verify internal doses. In a volunteer study, 12 healthy male subjects were given 0.65g/kg ethanol, a level approximating the limit for motor vehicle operation in The Netherlands, and neurobehavioral effects were measured prior to and 1 and 3h after ethanol administration, with a computerized neurobehavioral test battery. Blood and air measurements were made to quantify internal doses. Results of the behavioral tests in rats provided evidence of ethanol-induced changes in neuromuscular, sensori-motor, and activity domains. There were also significant changes in visual discrimination, particularly in the areas of general measures of responding and psychomotor speed. In humans there were small but statistically significant effects on learning and memory, psychomotor skills and attention. However, the effects were subtle and not all parameters within given domains were affected. These studies demonstrated a qualitative similarity in response between rats and humans.

We develop a three-level mixed-effects linear model to conduct a systematic large-n study testing the impact of cooperation in transportation on CO2 transport emissions. We use a novel dataset covering over 200 metropolitan areas in 16 OECD countries. The findings demonstrate that both fragmented and consolidated metropolitan governance structures are equally inefficient in delivering a reduction in CO2 transport emissions. Further, without functional enforcement mechanisms, mitigation policies fail to have a positive effect on environmental outcomes. Inter-municipal cooperation in metropolitan areas facilitates coherence and widespread enforcement and emerges as a crucial factor explaining the reduction of CO2 transport emissions. Effects of metropolitan cooperation on transportation are magnified by the presence of national environmental mitigation policies.

The prospect of negative local impacts in combination with the absence of local benefits can be a reason for people to oppose plans for the siting of a carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) project in their community. Local public opposition may be reduced by implementing compensation measures that redress the balance between perceived local costs and benefits. Here, we examine evaluations and relative preferences of Dutch citizens and local government authorities (LGAs) concerning five different types of compensation measures. The results of a survey experiment show that citizens and LGAs were equally (and most) positive about the establishment of a fund for the compensation of damage or other negative local impacts associated with nearby CCS activities. They differed in how they judged the other measures though: Citizens were more positive about compensation in the form of measures to improve the local economy, monetary payments to individual households, and improvements to local recreational amenities; LGAs were more positive about a grant to local government. Citizens assumed that LGAs would be more positive about four of the five compensation measures than they actually were, whereas LGAs performed very well in estimating the judgments of citizens. Implications for compensation policy are discussed.

Chronic alcohol abuse is an established risk factor for osteoporosis. However, the precise mechanisms for the bone loss are largely unknown. Alcohol decreases skeletal expression of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), an important growth hormone (GH)-regulated skeletal growth factor. Therefore, we investigated the effects of alcohol on the skeletal response to GH in male Sprague-Dawley rats made GH-deficient by hypophysectomy (HYPOX). Four groups of sexually mature (3-month-old) rats were studied: pituitary-intact (control), HYPOX, HYPOX + GH, and HYPOX + alcohol + GH. All animals were transferred to a liquid diet 6 days following surgery. The alcohol-fed group was adapted to a graded increase in alcohol beginning 11 days following surgery. GH or vehicle was administered during the final 8 days of study and all animals were sacrificed 25 days following surgery. HYPOX resulted in cessation of body weight gain and tibial growth. Compared to controls, longitudinal bone growth and cancellous bone formation were lower following HYPOX. The latter was associated with lower mineralizing perimeter/bone perimeter. Bone marrow adiposity was higher following HYPOX. Compared to HYPOX, GH treatment increased body weight gain and bone formation rate, and decreased bone marrow adiposity. In contrast to the effects of GH treatment without alcohol, bone marrow adiposity did not differ between HYPOX and alcohol-fed GH-treated HYPOX rats. Alcohol did not alter GH-induced weight gain or increases in serum IGF-I levels, but significantly impaired the effects of GH on tibial growth and cancellous bone formation. We conclude that the detrimental skeletal effects of alcohol abuse observed in this experiment are mediated, at least in part, by skeletal resistance to GH.

A global shift to low-carbon economies needs five times larger annual investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency compared to the present USD2005 200 billion. The question about how to finance those large investments is discussed with particular attention to the citizens’ savings because they are hardly used so far, except a few countries. If good conditions are created, activation of these savings is sufficiently large and it is rewarding regarding the cost-reducing technological change and many civil initiatives. High international prices of fossil fuels create favorable conditions but they are unpredictable whilst the present policy support for energy business and CO2 taxes do not compensate for the low prices. High CO2 taxes could do but meet opposition. Innovations in the USA and EU add value to the energy businesses by USD2005 9.2 billion a year based on average during 2005–2015, which exceeds their R&D on renewable energy and energy efficiency. Innovations in energy business also generate spin-off that exceeds 1% of the global GDP though the spin-off strongly varies across countries. The value addition motivates the supply-oriented and demand-oriented policy support for those energy innovations, in particular subsidies and price guarantees, respectively. Experiences with the subsidies in the USA compared to the price guarantees in the EU show that the latter involved larger expenditures but generated many more new firms and jobs per USD2005. A price guarantee per CO2 would invoke distributed energy systems entailing higher more energy-efficiency and energy security. Innovations generate adaptations when applied on larger scale. Their cost-reduction is function of scale; the projectable cost-reduction reduces the financial risks. Estimates show that the global investments in wind and solar power are efficiently allocated and operations are cost-effective. In addition to the power generation, those renewable energy with storage technologies deliver co-benefits to the energy producers and consumers and business models emerge tuned to the local conditions. The citizens’ participations in energy-efficiency and renewable energy would be enhanced if policies guarantee the annual value of the participants’ savings. Such guarantee would generate tax returns due to more companies and higher value of assets. The citizens participation with policy support enables the global shift to sustainable energy.