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Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have recently gained more interest in hydraulic engineering. It is based on the concept of using forces of nature rather than working against them. In addition, it focuses on using natural processes to fulfil co-benefits for the parties involved. One of the parties involved is nature. However, a quantitative analysis of ecological development is necessary to determine possible co-benefits for nature. This is still found challenging due to the dependency on many variables, the difference in spatial and temporal scales, the limitations in available information, and the non-linearity. Ecological development can be expressed with ecotopes, linking geomorphological and hydrological characteristics to abiotic characteristics. A Dutch Ecotope System for Coastal Waters (ZES.1) is a classification system of Rijkswaterstaat. It is a hierarchical system based on abiotic characteristics that classify ecotopes based on thresholds that are determined by ecological differences. In this thesis, the Ecotope Map Maker based on Abiotic characteristics (EMMA), is developed. It uses data from a validated hydrodynamic model as input and subsequently maps ecotopes based on the ZES.1. Ecotope labels are composed by combining labels that are given to values of salinity, inundation, flow velocity and substrate composition.

BackgroundThe ongoing outbreak of the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) poses a challenge for public health laboratories as virus isolates are unavailable while there is growing evidence that the outbreak is more widespread than initially thought, and international spread through travellers does already occur.AimWe aimed to develop and deploy robust diagnostic methodology for use in public health laboratory settings without having virus material available.MethodsHere we present a validated diagnostic workflow for 2019-nCoV, its design relying on close genetic relatedness of 2019-nCoV with SARS coronavirus, making use of synthetic nucleic acid technology.ResultsThe workflow reliably detects 2019-nCoV, and further discriminates 2019-nCoV from SARS-CoV. Through coordination between academic and public laboratories, we confirmed assay exclusivity based on 297 original clinical specimens containing a full spectrum of human respiratory viruses. Control material is made available through European Virus Archive - Global (EVAg), a European Union infrastructure project.ConclusionThe present study demonstrates the enormous response capacity achieved through coordination of academic and public laboratories in national and European research networks.

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is an ancient and ubiquitous human pathogen recovered previously only from primates. The sole species of the genus Hepatovirus, existing in both enveloped and nonenveloped forms, and with a capsid structure intermediate between that of insect viruses and mammalian picornaviruses, HAV is enigmatic in its origins. We conducted a targeted search for hepatoviruses in 15,987 specimens collected from 209 small mammal species globally and discovered highly diversified viruses in bats, rodents, hedgehogs, and shrews, which by pairwise sequence distance comprise 13 novel Hepatovirus species. Near-complete genomes from nine of these species show conservation of unique hepatovirus features, including predicted internal ribosome entry site structure, a truncated VP4 capsid protein lacking N-terminal myristoylation, a carboxyl-terminal pX extension of VP1, VP2 late domains involved in membrane envelopment, and a cis-acting replication element within the 3Dpol sequence. Antibodies in some bat sera immunoprecipitated and neutralized human HAV, suggesting conservation of critical antigenic determinants. Limited phylogenetic cosegregation among hepatoviruses and their hosts and recombination patterns are indicative of major hepatovirus host shifts in the past. Ancestral state reconstructions suggest a Hepatovirus origin in small insectivorous mammals and a rodent origin of human HAV. Patterns of infection in small mammals mimicked those of human HAV in hepatotropism, fecal shedding, acute nature, and extinction of the virus in a closed host population. The evolutionary conservation of hepatovirus structure and pathogenesis provide novel insight into the origins of HAV and highlight the utility of analyzing animal reservoirs for risk assessment of emerging viruses.