ELSMOR - towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors: Methodology recommendations for light-water small modular reactors safety assessment.

Decarbonization of energy production is key in today's societies and nuclear energy holds an essential place in this prospect. Besides heavy-duty electricity production, other industrial and communal needs could be served by integrating novel nuclear energy production systems, among which are low-power nuclear devices, like small modular reactors (SMRs). The ELSMOR (towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors) European project addresses this topic as an answer to the Horizon 2020 Euratom NFRP-2018-3 call.

How is alcohol consumption and heavy episodic drinking spread across different types of drinking occasion in Great Britain: An event-level latent class analysis.

Background: This paper aimed to (i) update a previous typology of British alcohol drinking occasions using a more recent and expanded dataset and revised modelling procedure, and (ii) estimate the average consumption level, prevalence of heavy drinking, and distribution of all alcohol consumption and heavy drinking within and across occasion types.

Methods: The paper uses a cross-sectional latent class analysis of event-level diary data that includes characteristics of 43,089 drinking occasions in 2019 reported by 17,821 adult drinkers in Great Britain. The latent class indicators are characteristics of off-trade only (e.

Global seasonal prediction of fire danger.

The European Centre for Medium range weather forecast (ECMWF) on behalf of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) has recently widened the fire danger data offering in the Climate Data Store (CDS) to include a set of fire danger forecasts with lead times up to 7 months. The dataset incorporates fire danger indices for three different models developed in Canada, United States and Australia. The indices are calculated using ECMWF Seasonal Forecasting System 5 (SEAS5) and verified against the relevant reanalysis of fire danger based on the ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA5).

Change and stability in British drinking practices and culture between 2009 and 2019: A longitudinal latent class analysis of drinking occasions.

Rationale: Theories of practice can support understanding of health-related behaviours, but few studies use quantitative methods to understand time-trends in practices. This paper describes changes in the prevalence and performance of alcohol drinking practices in Great Britain between 2009 and 2019.

Methods: Latent class analyses of annual cross-sectional data collected between 2009 and 2019.

Evaluating the effects of minimum unit pricing in Scotland on the prevalence of harmful drinking: a controlled interrupted time series analysis.

Objectives: In May 2018, the Scottish Government introduced a minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol of £0.50 (1 UK unit = 8 g ethanol) to reduce alcohol consumption, particularly among people drinking at harmful levels. This study aimed to evaluate MUP's impact on the prevalence of harmful drinking among adults in Scotland.

Artificial intelligence and real-world data for drug and food safety - A regulatory science perspective.

In 2013, the Global Coalition for Regulatory Science Research (GCRSR) was established with members from over ten countries (www.gcrsr.net).

Prediction of prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure leading to developmental neurotoxicity in humans based on toxicity data by quantitative extrapolation.

: Epidemiological studies in children suggested that in utero exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF), an organophosphate insecticide, may cause developmental neurotoxicity (DNT). We applied quantitative - extrapolation (QIVIVE) based on concentration and non-choline esterase-dependent effects data combined with Benchmark dose (BMD) modelling to predict oral maternal CPF exposure during pregnancy leading to fetal brain effect concentration. By comparing the results with data from epidemiological studies, we evaluated the contribution of the endpoints to the mode of action (MoA) for CPF-induced DNT.

Value transfer in ecosystem accounting applications.

Ecosystem accounting is a statistical framework that aims to track the state of ecosystems and ecosystem services, with periodic updates. This framework follows the statistical standard of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA). SEEA EA is composed of physical ecosystem extent, condition and ecosystem service supply-use accounts and monetary ecosystem service and asset accounts.

Protein-corona formation on aluminum doped zinc oxide and gallium nitride nanoparticles.

The interaction of semiconductor nanoparticles with bio-molecules attracts increasing interest of researchers, considering the reactivity of nanoparticles and the possibility to control their properties remotely giving mechanical, thermal, or electrical stimulus to the surrounding bio-environment. This work reports on a systematic comparative study of the protein-corona formation on aluminum doped zinc oxide and gallium nitride nanoparticles. Bovine serum albumin was chosen as a protein model.

Third international challenge to model the medium- to long-range transport of radioxenon to four Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty monitoring stations.

In 2015 and 2016, atmospheric transport modeling challenges were conducted in the context of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) verification, however, with a more limited scope with respect to emission inventories, simulation period and number of relevant samples (i.e., those above the Minimum Detectable Concentration (MDC)) involved.

Explaining Aha! moments in artificial agents through IKE-XAI: Implicit Knowledge Extraction for eXplainable AI.

During the learning process, a child develops a mental representation of the task he or she is learning. A Machine Learning algorithm develops also a latent representation of the task it learns. We investigate the development of the knowledge construction of an artificial agent through the analysis of its behavior, i.

- Extrapolation by Physiologically Based Kinetic Modeling: Experience With Three Case Studies and Lessons Learned.

Physiologically based kinetic (PBK) modeling has been increasingly used since the beginning of the 21st century to support dose selection to be used in preclinical and clinical safety studies in the pharmaceutical sector. For chemical safety assessment, the use of PBK has also found interest, however, to a smaller extent, although an internationally agreed document was published already in 2010 (IPCS/WHO), but at that time, PBK modeling was based mostly on data as the example in the IPCS/WHO document indicates. Recently, the OECD has published a guidance document which set standards on how to characterize, validate, and report PBK models for regulatory purposes.

Detection and formation mechanisms of secondary nanoplastic released from drinking water bottles.

Since nanoplastics are currently considered potentially hazardous to the environment and human health, reliability of studies on nanoplastic exposure becomes crucial. However, analytical challenges limit our understanding of their formation and detection, thus hampering their biological interactions assessment. Here we provide a combined approach to quantitatively and qualitatively detect the release of nanoplastics in water matrix and, in particular, to measure direct exposure of consumers by simulated use of drinking water plastic bottles.

Comparison of weather station and climate reanalysis data for modelling temperature-related mortality.

Epidemiological analyses of health risks associated with non-optimal temperature are traditionally based on ground observations from weather stations that offer limited spatial and temporal coverage. Climate reanalysis represents an alternative option that provide complete spatio-temporal exposure coverage, and yet are to be systematically explored for their suitability in assessing temperature-related health risks at a global scale. Here we provide the first comprehensive analysis over multiple regions to assess the suitability of the most recent generation of reanalysis datasets for health impact assessments and evaluate their comparative performance against traditional station-based data.

SpheraCosmolife: a new tool for the risk assessment of cosmetic products.

A new, freely available software for cosmetic products has been designed that considers the regulatory framework for cosmetics. The software allows an overall toxicological evaluation of cosmetic ingredients without the need for additional testing and, depending on the product type, it applies defined exposure scenarios to derive risk for consumers. It takes regulatory thresholds into account and uses either experimental values, if available, or predictions.

Increased focus on non-animal models for COVID-19 and non-COVID lung research.

https://bit.ly/2Vk3xfA

Dishonesty is more affected by BMI status than by short-term changes in glucose.

There is evidence that human decision-making is affected by current body energy levels and physiological states. There is less clear evidence linking decision-making to long-term changes in energy, as those associated with obesity. We explore the link between energy, obesity and dishonesty by comparing the behaviour of obese and lean subjects when hungry or sated while playing an anonymous die-under-cup task.

Assessment of Low-Frequency Magnetic Fields Emitted by DC Fast Charging Columns.

The expected imminent widespread use of electromobility in transport systems draws attention to the possible effects of human exposure to magnetic fields generated inside electric vehicles and during their recharge. The current trend is to increase the capacity of the battery inside the vehicles to extend the available driving range and to increase the power of recharging columns to reduce the time required for a full recharge. This leads to higher currents and potentially stronger magnetic fields.

Toxicity testing in the 21st century: progress in the past decade and future perspectives.

Advances in the biological sciences have led to an ongoing paradigm shift in toxicity testing based on expanded application of high-throughput in vitro screening and in silico methods to assess potential health risks of environmental agents. This review examines progress on the vision for toxicity testing elaborated by the US National Research Council (NRC) during the decade that has passed since the 2007 NRC report on Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century (TT21C). Concomitant advances in exposure assessment, including computational approaches and high-throughput exposomics, are also documented.

Are existing standard methods suitable for the evaluation of nanomedicines: some case studies.

The use of nanotechnology in medical products has been demonstrated at laboratory scale, and many resulting nanomedicines are in the translational phase toward clinical applications, with global market trends indicating strong growth of the sector in the coming years. The translation of nanomedicines toward the clinic and subsequent commercialization may require the development of new or adaptation of existing standards to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of such products. This work addresses some identified needs, and illustrates the shortcomings of currently used standardized methods when applied to medical-nanoparticles to assess particle size, drug loading, drug release and in vitro safety.

Global assessment of heat wave magnitudes from 1901 to 2010 and implications for the river discharge of the Alps.

Heat waves represent one of the most significant climatic stressors for ecosystems, economies and societies. A main topic of debate is whether they have increased or not in intensity and/or their duration due to the observed climate change. Firstly, this is because of the lack of reliable long-term daily temperature data at the global scale; secondly, because of the intermittent nature of such phenomena.

Comparative regulatory approaches for groups of new plant breeding techniques.

This manuscript provides insights into ongoing debates on the regulatory issues surrounding groups of biotechnology-driven 'New Plant Breeding Techniques' (NPBTs). It presents the outcomes of preliminary discussions and in some cases the initial decisions taken by regulators in the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada, EU, Japan, South Africa and USA. In the light of these discussions we suggest in this manuscript a structured approach to make the evaluation more consistent and efficient.