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This paper seeks to understand how co-production can become embedded as a collaborative governance practice by which city governments plan, deliver and steward nature-based solutions. To these ends, the paper analyses how policy officers manifest capacities for co-production in three European cities – Genk (Belgium), Glasgow (United Kingdom), and Poznań (Poland) – while experimenting with co-production to develop and scale nature-based solutions. Co-production capacities include conditions and activities to (1) create space for co-production, (2) safeguard inclusive and legitimate co-production, and (3) link co-production processes and results to con- texts. The results demonstrate how policy officers in the three cities have mobilised and created resources, skills, institutional support and partnerships to implement diverse processes to co-produce nature-based solutions. While these conditions mark starting changes in urban governance, engaging with and embedding co-production causes tensions between the dynamic and diffuse nature of co-production and existing formal governance settings and processes. Lessons for strengthening the capacities to embed co-production as a collaborative governance practice in nature-based solutions planning, delivery, and stewardship are: (1) embedding a tailor-made approach for inclusive co-production to meaningfully engage diverse actors in place-based settings, (2) embedding open-ended co-production with long-term benefits, and (3) embedding new relations and roles to sustain co- production.

Mainstreaming nature-based solutions in cities has grown in scale and magnitude in recent times but is still considered to be the main challenge for transitioning our cities and their communities to be more climate resilient and liveable: environmentally, economically, and socially. Furthermore, taking nature-based solutions to the next level, and scaling them out to all urban contexts to achieve a greater impact, is proving to be slow and often conflicts with other transitioning initiatives such as energy generation, mobility and transport initiatives, and infilling to combat sprawl. So, the task is neither easy nor straightforward; there are many barriers to this novel transition, especially when it comes to collaborative approaches to implementing nature-based solutions with diverse urban communities and within city authorities themselves. This paper reports on a new process that is systematically co-produced and captured as a framework for planning nature-based solutions that emerged during the Connecting Nature project. The Connecting Nature Framework is a three-stage, iterative process that involves seven key activity areas for mainstreaming nature-based solutions: technical solutions, governance, financing and business models, nature-based enterprises, co-production, reflexive monitoring, and impact assessment. The tested and applied framework is designed to address and overcome barriers to the implementation of nature-based solutions in cities via a co-created, iterative, and reflective approach. The planning process guided by the proposed framework has already yielded promising results with some of the cities of the project, though further usage and its adoption by other cities is needed to explore its potential in different contexts, especially in the Global South. The paper concludes with suggestions on how this may be realised.

PUBLISHED This paper explores the institutional mainstreaming of nature-based solutions (NBS) to advance a process-based understanding of how to strategically develop the governance capacities needed for systemic, localised and inclusive NBS. To this end, it reports how policy officers in ten European cities have started to mainstream NBS by interacting with and changing incumbent governance arrangements when experimenting with novel governance processes and mechanisms to plan, deliver, and steward NBS. Based on these activities of the policy officers, the analysis identifies three strategies, associated stepping stones and changes in governance conditions, to mainstream NBS in governance capacities: institutionalising (a) a systems? approach to link NBS to policies, regulations, and departments across goals and sectors, (b) inclusive collaborations for localised and inclusive interventions, and (c) reflexivity and learning about how NBS interact with the (institutional, ecological, social, etc.) contexts and create impacts. The strategies illustrate institutional entrepreneurship in interacting with incumbent governance contexts, and how starting from NBS as a type of systemic innovation can promote broader shifts in urban governance arrangements. This paper explores the institutional mainstreaming of nature-based solutions (NBS) to advance a process-based understanding about how to strategically develop the governance capacities needed for systemic, localised and inclusive NBS. To this end, it reports how policy officers in ten European cities have started to mainstream NBS by interacting with and changing incumbent governance arrangements when experimenting with novel governance processes and mechanisms to plan, deliver and steward NBS. The analysis identifies three mainstreaming strategies to develop capacities for (a) a systems? approach to link NBS to policies, regulations, and departments across goals and sectors, (b) inclusive collaborations for localised and inclusive interventions, and (c) reflexivity and learning about how NBS interact with the (institutional, ecological, social, etc.) contexts and create impacts. The strategies illustrate institutional entrepreneurship in interacting with incumbent governance contexts, and how starting from NBS as a type of systemic innovation can promote broader shifts in urban governance arrangements.

Open access funding provided by Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) This work was supported by The Research Council of Norway, NFR-FREE MEDBIO grant, POEMA – POTENTIAL EARLY DIAGNOSTIC MOLECULAR MARKERS OF ADHD: Analysis of miRNA profiles and DNA methylation status in triads (grant no.: 240763/F20). The study received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–206) under grant agreement no. 308333 (HELIX project) and the H2020-EU.3.1.2. – Preventing Disease Programme under grant agreement no. 874583 (ATHLETE project). The genotyping was supported by the project PI17/01225 and PI17/01935, funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-funded by European Union (ERDF, “A way to make Europe”). BiB receives core infrastructure funding from the Wellcome Trust (WT101597MA) and a joint grant from the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and Economic and Social Science Research Council (ESRC) (MR/N024397/1), and has received support from the Human Early Life Exposome (HELIX) (FP7 grant agreement number 308333), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (LifeCycle, grant agreement number 733206; ATHLETE, grant agreement number 874583), and National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber (NIHR200166). The EDEN study was supported by Foundation for medical research (FRM), National Agency for Research (ANR), National Institute for Research in Public health (IRESP: TGIR cohorte santé 2008 program), French Ministry of Health (DGS), French Ministry of Research, INSERM Bone and Joint Diseases National Research (PRO-A), and Human Nutrition National Research Programs, Paris-Sud University, Nestlé, French National Institute for Population Health Surveillance (InVS), French National Institute for Health Education (INPES), the European Union FP7 programmes (FP7/2007–2013, HELIX, ESCAPE, ENRIECO, Medall projects), Diabetes National Research Program (through a collaboration with the French Association of Diabetic Patients (AFD)), French Agency for Environmental Health Safety (now ANSES), Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale a complementary health insurance (MGEN), French national agency for food security, French-speaking association for the study of diabetes and metabolism (ALFEDIAM). INMA data collections were supported by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, CIBERESP, and the Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT. ISGlobal acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the “Centro de Excelencia Seyero Ochoa 2019–2023” Program (CEX2018-000806-S), and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program. Kaunas KANC cohort was founded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–206) under grant agreement no 308333 (HELIX project), and HORIZON-2020 Programme under grant agreement no. 874583 (ATHLETE project). The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and the Ministry of Education and Research. The Rhea cohort was financially supported by European projects (EU FP6-2003-Food-3-NewGeneris, EU FP6. STREP Hiwate, EU FP7 ENV.2007.1.2.2.2. Project No 211250 Escape, EU FP7-2008-ENV-1.2.1.4 Envirogenomarkers, EU FP7-HEALTH-2009- single stage CHICOS, EU FP7 ENV.2008.1.2.1.6. Proposal No 226285 ENRIECO, EU- FP7- HEALTH-2012 Proposal No 308333 HELIX), and the Greek Ministry of Health (Program of Prevention of obesity and neurodevelopmental disorders in preschool children, in Heraklion district, Crete, Greece: 2011–2014; “Rhea Plus”: Primary Prevention Program of Environmental Risk Factors for Reproductive Health, and Child Health: 2012–15). LM is funded by a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación fellowship (IJC2018-035394-I) awarded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad. JJ holds now the Miguel Servet-II contract (CPII19/00015) awarded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (co-funded by the European Social Fund “Investing in your future”). JU is supported by the Spanish regional program PERIS (Ref.: SLT017/20/000119), granted by Departament de Salut de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent and highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder of major societal concern. Diagnosis can be challenging and there are large knowledge gaps regarding its etiology, though studies suggest an interplay of genetic and environmental factors involving epigenetic mechanisms. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) show promise as biomarkers of human pathology and novel therapies, and here we aimed to identify blood miRNAs associated with traits of ADHD as possible biomarker candidates and further explore their biological relevance. Methods: Our study population consisted of 1126 children (aged 5-12 years, 46% female) from the Human Early Life Exposome study, a study spanning six ongoing population-based European birth cohorts. Expression profiles of miRNAs in whole blood samples were quantified by microarray and tested for association with ADHD-related measures of behavior and neuropsychological functions from questionnaires (Conner's Rating Scale and Child Behavior Checklist) and computer-based tests (the N-back task and Attention Network Test). Results: We identified 29 miRNAs significantly associated (false discovery rate < .05) with the Conner's questionnaire-rated trait hyperactivity, 15 of which have been linked to ADHD in previous studies. Investigation into their biological relevance revealed involvement in several pathways related to neurodevelopment and function, as well as being linked with other neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorders known to overlap with ADHD both in symptomology, genetic risk, and co-occurrence, such as autism spectrum disorder or schizophrenia. An additional three miRNAs were significantly associated with Conner's-rated inattention. No associations were found with questionnaire-rated total ADHD index or with computer-based tests. Conclusions: The large overlap of our hyperactivity-associated miRNAs with previous studies on ADHD is intriguing and warrant further investigation. Though this study should be considered explorative and preliminary, these findings contribute towards identifying a set of miRNAs for use as blood-based biomarkers to aid in earlier and easier ADHD diagnosis.

The collective economic and environmental interest of the whole dairy sheep sector is to reduce feedcosts and the negative impact of milk production on the environment. Thus, this study focused on thecharacterisation and genetic selection potential of feed efficiency in the Lacaune breed. Estimates for feedefficiency in dairy ewes are limited, mainly due to a lack of individual feed intake measurements in thesheepfold or in the pasture. We estimated the genetic parameters for two approximated (not entirelybased on individual data) feed efficiency traits (lactation feed conversion ratio (LFCR) and residual energyintake (REI)) and daily milk yield (DMY) at different stages of lactation and throughout lactation. Theaccuracy of the efficiency traits was first evaluated on samples from Lacaune dairy ewes that were mon-itored individually, especially for their feed intake. Then, feed efficiency estimation methods were appliedon eight commercial farms corresponding to 4 680 Lacaune dairy ewes over two milk lactations (30 854records). Animals were collectively (for a large part of feed intake) or individually (for milk performanceand dynamics of body fat reserves) monitored at different lactation stages. The heritabilities of LFCR andREI were estimated over lactations at 0.10 ± 0.01 and 0.11 ± 0.01, respectively. High genetic correlationswere observed between the two efficiency traits and milk production traits, with a genetic correlationbetween LFCR and DMY of 0.74 ± 0.04 and between REI and DMY of 0.79 ± 0.04. A strong influenceof environmental factors such as farm, year of milk production and lactation stage affected the geneticlink between REI and milk production traits. Efficiency values observed in early lactation when animalswere bred in the sheepfold were less genetically correlated with values obtained later in lactation whenanimals were grass-fed. However, individual characterisation of feed efficiency remains difficult due tothe collective feeding context in dairy ewe farms. International audience

AbstractThroughout the European Union (EU), agricultural practices contribute significantly to the pollution of water resources by nitrates, phosphorus and pesticides. This article sheds light on the degree of horizontal legal coherence between the main EU legal and policy instruments applicable to the protection of water resources from agricultural pollution. After identifying key coherence challenges at the EU level, the article thoroughly assesses the regulatory and governance approach in Norway. The key question is how certain EU‐level coherence challenges could be mitigated at a national level through mechanisms aimed at facilitating cross‐sectoral coordination and policy coherence. Three types of mechanisms have been selected for this purpose: (i) legal mechanisms, including cross‐referencing and joint institutional responsibility for implementation; (ii) the establishment of platforms for cross‐sectoral policy coordination or actor participation; and (iii) the establishment of monitoring and reporting processes that ensure access to information and data sharing.

To improve the adherence of future R&I activities, Ben@Rail shall develop a framework based on a stakeholder analysis and technological inputs. To achieve the final goal of assessing the benefits of the stakeholders from future R&I activities, the technological inputs will in the final stage be compared and weighted against the stakeholder requirements. This will allow to verify the research priorities within the upcoming Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (ERJU). This document provides a structured overview of the R&I objectives given by the research plans published by the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC) and the ERJU, and with this delivers the technical inputs for the comparison with the stakeholder requirements defined in Deliverable D1.1 “Simplified stakeholder tree and weighting matrix of requirements”. The objectives have been extracted from different documents, with a main focus on the “Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking Master Plan” (MP) and the “Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking Multi-Annual Work Programme” (MAWP). Additonal documents, published by other Shift2Rail research projects, like TER4RAIL and Mobility4EU, or representatives of other transport sectors, have been examined as well.