How to Achieve a More Resource‐Efficient and Climate‐Neutral Energy System by 2030? Views of Nordic Stakeholders

The Nordic countries pursue ambitious energy transition goals through national energy policies and in the framework of Nordic cooperation. We propose that the transition is realistic only if it involves the public, private, and nongovernmental organization sectors as regulators, innovators, and advocates of relevant policies and solutions representing the multitude of interests involved. We examine these interests through Q methodological experiments, where 43 expert stakeholders’ rank‐order statements concerning their preferred policy measures vis‐à‐vis the electric energy system. Factor analysis of these subjectively held views produces three distinct views. The first two enjoy strong inter‐Nordic support. The first view prioritizes market and grid development, and the second view prioritizes electric transport, and solar and wind power. The third, “Finnish” view seeks to enhance security of supply, also via microgrids, and prioritizes biofuels over electric transport. Examining the common ground among the three views, we find that enhanced cooperation requires reinforced stakeholder interaction and policy coordination.     

“甘蒙8·05系列强奸杀人案”对社会治安防控体系建设的启示

"甘蒙8·05系列强奸杀人案"的侦破在甘肃乃至全国警界都是一件大事件,遇害者家属终于可以得到些许慰藉,法律的权威和尊严可以得到维护,猖獗的犯罪嫌疑人也终将被推上审判台接受法律严惩。但站在治安学和社会治安防控体系建设的角度审视该案,其暴露出基层公安机关在人口管理、区域警务协作、基础信息化建设及实施社区警务战略等方面存在的问题仍不容小觑。必须进一步加强派出所基础信息化建设,深化区域警务协作,规范网络自组织行为,推进社区警务"两化"工作,从而有效提升整体社会治安防控效能。     

禽流感病毒N8亚型神经氨酸酶基因的克隆和全序列分析

用SPF鸡胚增殖禽流感病毒A/Duck/Australia/341/83(H15N8),通过RT-PCR获得了NA基因全长,连接并转化,增菌培养后,提取阳性质粒进行序列测定,获得了禽流感病毒N8亚型的NA基因序列,分析了NA8基因与其他流感病毒神经氨酸酶基因的相互关系。结果显示,所获得的NA基因片段全长1459bp,最大开放阅读框编码457个氨基酸残基,经Blast分析,该基因与GenBank中其他13株N8亚型毒株的NA基因核苷酸序列同源性为91.6%～73.3%。与其他8个N1～N9亚型NA基因进行遗传演化分析,N8亚型与N5亚型NA基因的亲缘关系最近,与N3亚型NA基因的亲缘关系最远。结果表明,禽流感病毒N8亚型NA基因序列的测定对N8亚型流感病毒的诊断和预防具有重要意义。     

Credible Empowerment and Deliberative Participation: A Comparative Study of Two Nuclear Energy Policy Deliberation Cases in Korea

What factors make deliberative participation of public policy effective? Why, in some cases, are participants in deliberation more motivated than others, and reach their final judgment in a timely manner, based on systematic processes of opinion gathering and consensus building? By comparing and investigating two recent cases of public participation in energy policy deliberation in Korea, we argue that deliberative participation is more effective when the prospect that the outcome of their activities might be accepted by decision makers is high. The two cases, the public deliberation committee (PDC) on the nuclear waste issue which operated from 2013 to 2015, and the PDC on the nuclear power plant construction issue which operated in 2017, show that they went through similar courses of action, and used similar methods for deliberation. However, while the 2017 PDC has produced clear‐cut policy recommendations, and the government have accepted these, the 2013 PDC failed to reach conclusions on the given critical issues. We argue that the difference in the results is caused by credible empowerment along with two other factors––the sensitivity of issues and the learning effect. Participants of deliberation tend to judge the possibility of the government’s acceptance of their opinions based on either the government’s direct announcement or its inclusiveness in the past policy history. If governments are willing to consult the public to increase legitimacy and transparency, they should send explicit signals to the public on its inclusiveness in the short term, and also should increase credibility in the long term.     

X-STR和常染色体STR在二联体亲权鉴定中的应用

目的探讨X-STR和常染色体STR在二联体亲权鉴定中的应用价值。方法分别采用Sinofiler试剂盒和Mentype Argus X-8试剂盒对104例二联体亲权鉴定的样本DNA进行基因分型,并对各个STR基因座在排除案例中的应用价值进行统计分析。结果Sinofiler试剂盒和MentypeArgus X-8试剂盒对其中102例案件均可获得相同的鉴定结论;另外2例案件中,分别在DXS10074和DXS10035基因座检见突变可能。在69例排除案例中,Sinofiler检测系统中以D8S1179基因座的排除率最高,为56.52%;MentypeArgus X-8检测系统中以DXS10135基因座的排除率最高,达到85.51%。结论X-STR在法医学中具有很好的应用价值,不仅可以成为常染色体STR的重要补充,而且可以解决一些特殊案例的鉴定难题。     

Automated processing of forensic casework samples using robotic workstations equipped with nondisposable tips: contamination prevention

An automated process has been developed for the analysis of forensic casework samples using TECAN Genesis RSP 150/8 or Freedom EVO liquid handling workstations equipped exclusively with nondisposable tips. Robot tip cleaning routines have been incorporated strategically within the DNA extraction process as well as at the end of each session. Alternative options were examined for cleaning the tips and different strategies were employed to verify cross-contamination. A 2% sodium hypochlorite wash (1/5th dilution of the 10.8% commercial bleach stock) proved to be the best overall approach for preventing cross-contamination of samples processed using our automated protocol. The bleach wash steps do not adversely impact the short tandem repeat (STR) profiles developed from DNA extracted robotically and allow for major cost savings through the implementation of fixed tips. We have demonstrated that robotic workstations equipped with fixed pipette tips can be used with confidence with properly designed tip washing routines to process casework samples using an adapted magnetic bead extraction protocol.     

The Politics of Technology Decline: Discursive Struggles over Coal Phase‐Out in the UK

The decline of carbon intensive technologies is a key element in the ongoing energy transition and our attempts to tackle climate change. At the same time, our understanding of technology decline and of the associated policies and politics is still limited. This paper builds on the sustainability transitions perspective, a novel approach to analyze socio‐technical transformation, including the complex interplay of policy and technology change. We study the decline of coal‐fired power generation in the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2017 by analyzing the discourse in The Guardian. We find scientists and environmental NGOs criticizing coal for climate and health reasons. Government and incumbent businesses tried to re‐legitimate coal but eventually, their resistance collapsed and coal was almost completely abandoned in just a few years. Particularly devastating for coal were failed promises around carbon capture and storage, rapid diffusion of wind energy, and pressure from various policies. This study contributes to better understanding the contested nature of decline, and the interplay of discursive struggles, technology change, and public policy in sustainability transitions.     

Household Costs and Resistance to Germany's Energy Transition

Germany is an exemplary case of an energy transition from nuclear energy and fossil fuels toward renewables in the electricity sector, but it also demonstrates repeated, increasingly successful countermobilization by energy incumbents and their allies. The course for Germany's energy transition was largely set with the adoption of a feed‐in tariff law in 1990, but since then the energy transition has been altered by a series of policy‐making episodes, each of which was shaped by the outcomes of the previous episodes; there has been a combination of reinforcing and reactive sequences. This article uses policy windows and advocacy coalition theory, supplemented by work on resistance to carbon pricing, to analyze the four periods in which opponents of the energy transition had the greatest opportunities to limit or reverse it. It makes three main arguments intended to influence future research on energy transitions: (1) episodes of opposition to the feed‐in tariff policy occurred when problem awareness and political commitment converged, (2) the outcomes of those conflicts depended on the balance of mobilization by advocacy and opposing coalitions, and (3) rising household costs due to the renewable energy surcharge drove both problem awareness and the composition of the opposing coalition, which helped lead to a more far‐reaching retrenchment of renewable energy policy in 2014 than in earlier periods.     

Shaping the Scope of Conflict in Scotland’s Fracking Debate: Conflict Management and the Narrative Policy Framework

This study applies a narrative lens to policy actors’ discursive strategies in the Scottish debate over fracking. Based on a sample of 226 newspaper articles (2011–2017) and drawing on key elements of the narrative policy framework (NPF), the research examines how policy coalitions have characterized their supporters, their opponents, and the main regulator (Scottish government). It also explores how actors have sought to expand or contain the scope of conflict to favor their policy objectives. Empirically, only the government strives for conflict containment, whereas both pro‐ and anti‐fracking groups prioritize conflict expansion through characterization contests and the diffusion and concentration of the costs/risks and benefits of fracking. In theoretical terms, the study proposes that Sarah Pralle’s conflict management model, which emphasizes symmetrical strategies of conflict expansion by both coalitions, is a potential tool to revise extant NPF expectations about the different narrative strategies of winning and losing coalitions. Moreover, the fact that policy actors mostly employ negatively rather than positively framed characters in their narratives may be a valid expectation for similar policy conflicts, particularly under conditions of regulatory uncertainty.