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Golgi-Associated Plant Pathogenesis-Related protein 1 (GAPR-1) is a mammalian protein that belongs to the superfamily of plant pathogenesis related proteins group 1 (PR-1). GAPR-1 is a peripheral membrane-binding protein that strongly associates with lipid-enriched microdomains at the cytosolic leaflet of Golgi membranes. Little is known about the mechanism of GAPR‐1 interaction with membranes. We previously suggested that dimerization plays a role in the function of GAPR‐1 and here we report that phytic acid (inositol hexakisphosphate) induces dimerization of GAPR‐1 in solution. Elucidation of the crystal structure of GAPR‐1 in the presence of phytic acid revealed that the GAPR‐1 dimer differs from the previously published GAPR‐1 dimer structure. In this structure, one of the monomeric subunits of the crystallographic dimer is rotated by 28.5°. To study the GAPR‐1 dimerization properties, we investigated the interaction with liposomes in a light scattering assay and by flow cytometry. In the presence of negatively charged lipids, GAPR‐1 caused a rapid and stable tethering of liposomes. [D81K]GAPR‐1, a mutant predicted to stabilize the IP6‐induced dimer conformation, also caused tethering of liposomes. [A68K]GAPR‐1 however, a mutant predicted to stabilize the non‐rotated dimer conformation, is capable of binding to liposomes but did not cause liposome tethering. Our combined data suggest that the charge properties of the lipid bilayer can regulate GAPR‐1 dynamics as a potential mechanism to modulate GAPR‐1 function.

To identify host factors involved in Salmonella replication, SILAC‐based quantitative proteomics was used to investigate the interactions of Salmonella typhimurium with the secretory pathway in human epithelial cells. Protein profiles of Golgi‐enriched fractions isolated from S. typhimurium‐infected cells were compared with those of mock‐infected cells, revealing significant depletion or enrichment of 105 proteins. Proteins annotated to play a role in membrane traffic were overrepresented among the depleted proteins whereas proteins annotated to the cytoskeleton showed a diverse behavior with some proteins being enriched, others being depleted from the Golgi fraction upon Salmonella infection. To study the functional relevance of identified proteins in the Salmonella infection cycle, small interfering RNA (siRNA) experiments were performed. siRNA‐mediated depletion of a selection of affected proteins identified five host factors involved in Salmonella infection. Depletion of peroxiredoxin‐6 (PRDX6), isoform β‐4c of integrin β‐4 (ITGB4), isoform 1 of protein lap2 (erbin interacting protein; ERBB2IP), stomatin (STOM) or TBC domain containing protein 10b (TBC1D10B) resulted in increased Salmonella replication. Surprisingly, in addition to the effect on Salmonella replication, depletion of STOM or ITGB4 resulted in a dispersal of intracellular Salmonella microcolonies. It can be concluded that by using SILAC‐based quantitative proteomics we were able to identify novel host cell proteins involved in the complex interplay between Salmonella and epithelial cells.

The paper explores the linkages between labour productivity, innovation and technology spillovers in a panel of manufacturing industries. The roles of R&D, human capital and international trade are considered in stimulating innovation and/or facilitating technology transfer. Using panel-based unit root tests and cointegration analysis, the results indicate the existence of a single long-run equilibrium relation between labour productivity, innovation and technology transfer. Further, R&D, trade and human capital have statistically and, especially the latter, quantitatively important effects on labour productivity both directly via innovation and indirectly as they enhance technology diffusion.

This article looks at the question of how the obligation of states parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to submit information on the outer limit of their continental shelf to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and the regime established by the Antarctic Treaty can be reconciled. Under the latter Treaty states have 'agreed to disagree' about the legal status of Antarctica. The establishment of an outer limit of the continental shelf on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf would pose a threat to this agreement to disagree as it would recognise the existence of coastal states and maritime zones. The article sets out the options of the states involved to deal with this issue. It is concluded that there are a number of approaches which safeguard the rights of coastal states under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the agreement to disagree of the Antarctic Treaty.

Genesis, hoofdstuk 27, tekent Esau als een impulsieve en tragische figuur. Hij lijkt in zijn voorliefde voor het land en de jacht het meeste op zijn vader Isaak, maar wordt tegengewerkt door zijn moeder, waardoor hij op knullige wijze zijn eerstgeboorterecht verspeelt. De zegen die Isaak nog voor hem heeft, belooft weinig goeds voor de relatie met Jakob/Israël: ‘Van je zwaard zul je leven, / en je broer zul je dienen. / Maar als je je losrukt, / schud je zijn juk van je nek’ (Genesis 27, 40, Willibrordvertaling 1995). Hoe wordt dit thema in de rabbijnse literatuur uitgewerkt? Is Esau een slecht mens, en zijn zijn kinderen dat dus ook?

Although thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules have been in production for decades, the characterization of their performance, both outdoors and under artificial light, remains a topic of active research. This is because the field contains a diverse set of PV technologies, each of which has physical differences from conventional crystalline silicon PV. These differences range from different temperature coefficients to complex short-term or seasonal transients in performance. This report summarises the nature of these special behaviours and demonstrates best practices for handling them in the context of several case studies. The first portion of the report deals with the performance of thin-film PV modules in solar simulators. Achieving repeatable performance measurements is challenging, even under artificial light. Stable, spectrally matched reference modules are generally unavailable, which can lead to errors in the effective illumination level. Some technologies have high capacitance, leading to problematic dependence of results on the duration of illumination and of the I-V curve sweep. Modules must be stabilised to avoid the influence of metastabilities on the results. This is normally done by light exposure or “light soaking” and the report proposes an approach for improving upon simple light soaking by applying bias. The report then covers the issues surrounding the measurement and analysis of outdoor performance of thin-film PV modules. The widely varying spectral responses, temperature coefficients and metastable behaviours of different thin-film technologies lead to special challenges in outdoor performance analysis. This is illustrated by the presentation of a new method of collecting and analyzing performance data from many international partners. Specific issues of spectral performance analysis are then discussed, including measured-spectrum and modeled-spectrum methods. The target audience of the report is scientists and engineers who participate in the collection, analysis and prediction of indoor and outdoor performance data. This group includes planners, operators and manufacturers of PV power plants, participants in the standardization of methods for performance measurement and workers in academe or at national laboratories.

De onderkenning van het wereldwijde klimaatprobleem in relatie tot de almaar toenemende energievraag en daarmee gepaard gaande emissies van broeikasgassen hebben geleid tot diverse globale en nationale doelstellingen om deze broeikasgas emissies te verminderen. Het voldoen aan deze doelstellingen is slechts mogelijk als een groot aantal technologieën beschikbaar komt voor energiebesparing en duurzame energievoorziening. Anders gezegd, het ontwikkelen en stimuleren van het op de markt brengen van zulke technologieën is het hart van energie- en klimaat beleid in de wereld. Onderzoek en ontwikkeling van nieuwe technologieën wordt ondersteund door (inter)nationale overheden die tevens stimuleringsmaatregelen nemen voor marktintroductie van nieuwe, duurzame en potentieel goedkopere, energie technologieën. De vraag is hierbij op welk moment deze maatregelen voor welke technologie moeten worden genomen om succesvolle marktintroductie te bewerkstelligen. Strategische plannen in de vorm van research agenda’s en roadmaps worden daartoe ontwikkeld, zie bijvoorbeeld de recente Global Energy Assessment1. De uitdaging daarin is het vaststellen van de ontwikkelingssnelheid van energie technologieën dat in kaart kan worden gebracht door het concept van technologisch leren. De kostenontwikkeling van een technologie wordt grafisch gerelateerd aan de hoeveelheid geïmplementeerde technologie (of de hoeveelheid geïnstalleerde capaciteit van bijvoorbeeld zonnepanelen), dit wordt leercurve genoemd. Van veel en uiteenlopende technologieën is vastgesteld dat hoe meer een technologie wordt gebruikt hoe goedkoper deze wordt. Veel studies, o.a. samengevat in2, hebben laten zien dat bij een verdubbeling van gebruik de kosten van die technologie met een zogenaamde leersnelheid van ongeveer 20% afnemen. Men spreekt ook wel over een progress ratio van 80% (één minus leersnelheid). Dit is gebaseerd op het uitgangspunt dat hoe groter de afzetmarkt van een technologie het productieproces door ervaring en schaalgrootte efficiënter en dus goedkoper kan plaatsvinden. Historische leercurveanalyses kunnen goed gebruikt worden voor roadmap ontwikkeling en geven tenminste onzekerheidsmarges waarbinnen de progress ratio per technologie zou moeten variëren in deze roadmaps. Analyse van een leercurve van een bepaalde technologie moet gebaseerd zijn op een periode van tenminste een decade. Kortdurende (enkele jaren) schommelingen in balans tussen aanbod van en vraag naar een technologie, maar ook fluctuaties in prijzen van belangrijke grondstoffen voor een technologie kunnen afwijkingen van de leercurve veroorzaken. Fotovoltaïsche zonneenergie (zon-PV) en off shore wind zijn voorbeelden van energie technologieën, waar dit heeft plaatsgevonden, en worden daarom in het hiernavolgende besproken.

The recently started project EUscreenXL builds on its predecessor EUscreen, which successfully solved a number of problems regarding the creation of online access to audiovisual sources, notably the interoperability at technical and metadata levels. In July 2011 the project EUscreen was presented in the IASA journal. In this paper, we would like to present its successor EUscreenXL, which started in March 2013. We would like to share some of the objectives of the project and discuss why and how these could be relevant for all organizations holding audiovisual archives and collections. It is EUscreenXL’s objective to establish a pan-European aggregator for audiovisual heritage. EUscreenXL makes audiovisual content and metadata from broadcasters and archives searchable, findable, and accessible across Europe and supports the use of European cultural resources through Europeana.

De onderkenning van het wereldwijde klimaatprobleem in relatie tot de almaar toenemende energievraag en daarmee gepaard gaande emissies van broeikasgassen hebben geleid tot diverse globale en nationale doelstellingen om deze broeikasgas emissies te verminderen. Het voldoen aan deze doelstellingen is slechts mogelijk als een groot aantal technologieën beschikbaar komt voor energiebesparing en duurzame energievoorziening. Anders gezegd, het ontwikkelen en stimuleren van het op de markt brengen van zulke technologieën is het hart van energie- en klimaat beleid in de wereld. Onderzoek en ontwikkeling van nieuwe technologieën wordt ondersteund door (inter)nationale overheden die tevens stimuleringsmaatregelen nemen voor marktintroductie van nieuwe, duurzame en potentieel goedkopere, energie technologieën. De vraag is hierbij op welk moment deze maatregelen voor welke technologie moeten worden genomen om succesvolle marktintroductie te bewerkstelligen. Strategische plannen in de vorm van research agenda’s en roadmaps worden daartoe ontwikkeld, zie bijvoorbeeld de recente Global Energy Assessment1. De uitdaging daarin is het vaststellen van de ontwikkelingssnelheid van energie technologieën dat in kaart kan worden gebracht door het concept van technologisch leren. De kostenontwikkeling van een technologie wordt grafisch gerelateerd aan de hoeveelheid geïmplementeerde technologie (of de hoeveelheid geïnstalleerde capaciteit van bijvoorbeeld zonnepanelen), dit wordt leercurve genoemd. Van veel en uiteenlopende technologieën is vastgesteld dat hoe meer een technologie wordt gebruikt hoe goedkoper deze wordt. Veel studies, o.a. samengevat in2, hebben laten zien dat bij een verdubbeling van gebruik de kosten van die technologie met een zogenaamde leersnelheid van ongeveer 20% afnemen. Men spreekt ook wel over een progress ratio van 80% (één minus leersnelheid). Dit is gebaseerd op het uitgangspunt dat hoe groter de afzetmarkt van een technologie het productieproces door ervaring en schaalgrootte efficiënter en dus goedkoper kan plaatsvinden. Historische leercurveanalyses kunnen goed gebruikt worden voor roadmap ontwikkeling en geven tenminste onzekerheidsmarges waarbinnen de progress ratio per technologie zou moeten variëren in deze roadmaps. Analyse van een leercurve van een bepaalde technologie moet gebaseerd zijn op een periode van tenminste een decade. Kortdurende (enkele jaren) schommelingen in balans tussen aanbod van en vraag naar een technologie, maar ook fluctuaties in prijzen van belangrijke grondstoffen voor een technologie kunnen afwijkingen van de leercurve veroorzaken. Fotovoltaïsche zonneenergie (zon-PV) en off shore wind zijn voorbeelden van energie technologieën, waar dit heeft plaatsgevonden, en worden daarom in het hiernavolgende besproken.

The recently started project EUscreenXL builds on its predecessor EUscreen, which successfully solved a number of problems regarding the creation of online access to audiovisual sources, notably the interoperability at technical and metadata levels. In July 2011 the project EUscreen was presented in the IASA journal. In this paper, we would like to present its successor EUscreenXL, which started in March 2013. We would like to share some of the objectives of the project and discuss why and how these could be relevant for all organizations holding audiovisual archives and collections. It is EUscreenXL’s objective to establish a pan-European aggregator for audiovisual heritage. EUscreenXL makes audiovisual content and metadata from broadcasters and archives searchable, findable, and accessible across Europe and supports the use of European cultural resources through Europeana.

Genesis, hoofdstuk 27, tekent Esau als een impulsieve en tragische figuur. Hij lijkt in zijn voorliefde voor het land en de jacht het meeste op zijn vader Isaak, maar wordt tegengewerkt door zijn moeder, waardoor hij op knullige wijze zijn eerstgeboorterecht verspeelt. De zegen die Isaak nog voor hem heeft, belooft weinig goeds voor de relatie met Jakob/Israël: ‘Van je zwaard zul je leven, / en je broer zul je dienen. / Maar als je je losrukt, / schud je zijn juk van je nek’ (Genesis 27, 40, Willibrordvertaling 1995). Hoe wordt dit thema in de rabbijnse literatuur uitgewerkt? Is Esau een slecht mens, en zijn zijn kinderen dat dus ook?

De onderkenning van het wereldwijde klimaatprobleem in relatie tot de almaar toenemende energievraag en daarmee gepaard gaande emissies van broeikasgassen hebben geleid tot diverse globale en nationale doelstellingen om deze broeikasgas emissies te verminderen. Het voldoen aan deze doelstellingen is slechts mogelijk als een groot aantal technologieën beschikbaar komt voor energiebesparing en duurzame energievoorziening. Anders gezegd, het ontwikkelen en stimuleren van het op de markt brengen van zulke technologieën is het hart van energie- en klimaat beleid in de wereld. Onderzoek en ontwikkeling van nieuwe technologieën wordt ondersteund door (inter)nationale overheden die tevens stimuleringsmaatregelen nemen voor marktintroductie van nieuwe, duurzame en potentieel goedkopere, energie technologieën. De vraag is hierbij op welk moment deze maatregelen voor welke technologie moeten worden genomen om succesvolle marktintroductie te bewerkstelligen. Strategische plannen in de vorm van research agenda’s en roadmaps worden daartoe ontwikkeld, zie bijvoorbeeld de recente Global Energy Assessment1. De uitdaging daarin is het vaststellen van de ontwikkelingssnelheid van energie technologieën dat in kaart kan worden gebracht door het concept van technologisch leren. De kostenontwikkeling van een technologie wordt grafisch gerelateerd aan de hoeveelheid geïmplementeerde technologie (of de hoeveelheid geïnstalleerde capaciteit van bijvoorbeeld zonnepanelen), dit wordt leercurve genoemd. Van veel en uiteenlopende technologieën is vastgesteld dat hoe meer een technologie wordt gebruikt hoe goedkoper deze wordt. Veel studies, o.a. samengevat in2, hebben laten zien dat bij een verdubbeling van gebruik de kosten van die technologie met een zogenaamde leersnelheid van ongeveer 20% afnemen. Men spreekt ook wel over een progress ratio van 80% (één minus leersnelheid). Dit is gebaseerd op het uitgangspunt dat hoe groter de afzetmarkt van een technologie het productieproces door ervaring en schaalgrootte efficiënter en dus goedkoper kan plaatsvinden. Historische leercurveanalyses kunnen goed gebruikt worden voor roadmap ontwikkeling en geven tenminste onzekerheidsmarges waarbinnen de progress ratio per technologie zou moeten variëren in deze roadmaps. Analyse van een leercurve van een bepaalde technologie moet gebaseerd zijn op een periode van tenminste een decade. Kortdurende (enkele jaren) schommelingen in balans tussen aanbod van en vraag naar een technologie, maar ook fluctuaties in prijzen van belangrijke grondstoffen voor een technologie kunnen afwijkingen van de leercurve veroorzaken. Fotovoltaïsche zonneenergie (zon-PV) en off shore wind zijn voorbeelden van energie technologieën, waar dit heeft plaatsgevonden, en worden daarom in het hiernavolgende besproken.

This essay discusses international law aspects of an airport in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), concentrating on the law of the sea and air law. The law of the sea gives a more positive answer to the question regarding the feasibility of the operation of an airport in the EEZ than air law. At the same time, the evolution of regimes, including also EC law and policy, may facilitate acceptance of international operations at a national airport in the EEZ. Finally, the prevailing circumstances, such as economic, financial and environmental considerations, will be liable to affect the acceptability of an airport in the sea, more particularly in the EEZ.

The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR Convention) forms the core of the regulatory regime for Southern Ocean fisheries. This article analyses the scope and extent of the Convention and the competence of the bodies established under it while also addressing the role of states and other international intergovernmental organisations with relevant competence. As part of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), the CCAMLR Convention is characterised by a unique sovereignty situation. The analysis thereof is complemented by a comparison with (other) regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) and illustrated by the difficulties in addressing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The article concludes inter alia that the CCAMLR Convention is unlike other RFMOs due to the special natural characteristics, its integration into the ATS and the ensuing sovereignty situation, and its conservationist objective. This notwithstanding, it seems justifiable to treat the CCAMLR Convention as "something more" than an RFMO for the purpose of international instruments on fisheries.

Several sacoglossan sea slugs (Plakobranchoidea) feed upon plastids of large unicellular algae. Four species—called long-term retention (LtR) species—are known to sequester ingested plastids within specialized cells of the digestive gland. There, the stolen plastids (kleptoplasts) remain photosynthetically active for several months, during which time LtR species can survive without additional food uptake. Kleptoplast longevity has long been puzzling, because the slugs do not sequester algal nuclei that could support photosystem maintenance. It is widely assumed that the slugs survive starvation by means of kleptoplast photosynthesis, yet direct evidence to support that view is lacking. We show that two LtR plakobranchids,Elysia timidaandPlakobranchus ocellatus, incorporate14CO2into acid-stable products 60- and 64-fold more rapidly in the light than in the dark, respectively. Despite this light-dependent CO2fixation ability, light is, surprisingly, not essential for the slugs to survive starvation. LtR animals survived several months of starvation (i) in complete darkness and (ii) in the light in the presence of the photosynthesis inhibitor monolinuron, all while not losing weight faster than the control animals. Contrary to current views, sacoglossan kleptoplasts seem to be slowly digested food reserves, not a source of solar power.

Reasons for performing study: Injuries in energy-storing tendons are common in both horses and man. The high prevalence of reinjury and the relatively poor prognosis for returning to preinjury performance levels warrant further research, for which well characterised models would be very helpful. Objectives: Given the clinical similarities in tendinopathy of energy-storing tendons, we hypothesised that a recently developed experimental model of equine tendon injury would display many of the characteristics of clinical tendinopathy and could therefore be of use for both species, thus providing comparative insight to the human condition and offering direct potential impact to equine medicine. Study design: In vivo experimental study. Methods: Surgical lesionswere created in the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) of 6 horses. Clinical examination, aswell as biochemistry, histology and immunohistochemistry were performed on the harvested samples at 6 weeks post surgery. Results: Disrupted collagen fibres, increased glycosaminoglycan content, increased presence of tenocytes with plump nuclei, the scarcity of inflammatory cells, increased matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity and neovascularisation were observed and found to be consistent with clinical tendinopathy. Conclusion and relevance: This model displays the key

An in vitro model was used to investigate effects of beta-hydroxybutyrate and isoproterenol (beta-adrenergic receptor agonist) on lipolysis in isolated adipocytes from late pregnant and recently calved dairy cows (n = 5) and cows with clinical ketosis (n =3). Incubation with 3.0 mmol/L beta-hydroxybutyrate reduced lipolysis in isolated adipocytes. This inhibitory effect was lower in the first lactation week (47% +/- 16%) compared with late pregnancy (71% +/- 6.5%). Incubation with 0.3 mu mol/L isoproterenol stimulated lipolysis in isolated adipocytes from periparturient dairy cows. Basal lipolysis resulted in non-esterified fatty acid to glycerol ratios in the incubation media of 2.0 +/- 0.23 in prepartum samples, 2.1 +/- 0.23 in the first lactation week and 2.2 +/- 0.09 in cows with clinical ketosis. beta-Hydroxybutyrate reduced lipolysis by 45% +/- 9.6% in isolated adipocytes from cows with clinical ketosis, indicating that impaired feedback of beta-hydroxybutyrate may not play a role in the disease etiology. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The introduction of new technologies can have profound impact on society and nature. Therefore, a need exists for a method that can provide a balanced assessment of new tech-nologies that takes into account all different impacts. Within the EU-funded PROSUITE pro-ject, the aim is to develop a methodology for the sustainability assessment of existing and emerging technologies. Here, existing approaches of sustainability assessment are re-viewed. All of them have their merits, but none of them is applicable in a generic way to all aspects of sustainability for a technology. Using concepts developed initially for environ-mental life cycle assessment, we propose an approach consisting of the following major impact categories: 1) impact on human health; 2) impact on social well-being; 3) impact on prosperity; 4) impact on natural environment; 5) impact on exhaustible resources. All pri-mary impacts can be grouped under these categories. For several of these categories still quite some analysis of mechanisms in the cause-effect chain is necessary and there will be substantial remaining uncertainties for the others. For a complete assessment, the five major impact categories need to be integrated. Several approaches are available for this purpose, such as multicriteria analysis with or without weighted aggregation.

Metabolic conditions characterized by elevated free fatty acid concentrations in blood and follicular fluid are often associated with impaired female fertility. Especially elevated saturated fatty acid levels can be lipotoxic for several somatic cell types. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of elevated free fatty acid concentrations in follicular fluid on neutral lipids (fatty acids stored in lipid droplets) inside cumulus cells and oocytes and their developmental competence. To this end, cows were exposed to a short-term fasting period during final oocyte maturation. This resulted in elevated, but distinct, free fatty acid concentrations in blood and follicular fluid and a rise in the concentrations of in particular fatty acids with a chain length of 14-18 carbon atoms. Interestingly, elevated free fatty acid concentrations in follicular fluid resulted in a massive increase in the level of neutral lipids in cumulus cells, whereas the level of neutral lipid in oocytes was hardly affected. Furthermore, competence of oocytes to develop to the blastocyst stage after fertilization and culture of cumulus-oocyte-complexes of the experimental and control group was not different. In conclusion these data suggest that short-term elevated free fatty acid concentrations in follicular fluid do not harm oocyte developmental competence. We propose that the involvement of high levels of mobilized oleic acid in follicular fluid in combination with the induced lipid storage in cumulus cells serves to prevent harmful saturated fatty acid exposure to the oocyte.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) aims to set clear policies and priorities for future work and investments in biofuel related projects and to provide guidance to countries on how to select sustainable biofuel projects. Three UN agencies, UNEP, UNIDO and FAO, in collaboration with three research institutions have worked together to prepare this report, with the aim to develop a Biofuels Screening Toolkit, that can be used by the GEF and/or other actors to address sustainability issues concerning biofuels. The research looked at environmental, economic and social impacts of biofuels with the overall objective of identifying and assessing sustainable systems in developing countries for the production of liquid biofuels for both transport and stationary applications. The research project was conducted in full awareness of other initiatives to develop sustainability criteria and policy tools for the promotion of sustainable biofuels, such as the UN Energy Decision Support Tool for Bioenergy (2011), the Global Bioenergy Partnership’s (GBEP) work on sustainability criteria and indicators, the European Union’s Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources which contains sustainability criteria for biofuels (2009), and the Inter-American Development Banks’s Biofuels Sustainability Scorecard 2.0 (2009), as well as various certification schemes available on the market.

We live in a time of rapid technological development and significant interest in sustainability. It is therefore imperative to have tools available for the sustainability assessment of existing and new technologies. This is recognized by the European Commission and they awarded a grant to a consortium of universities, research institutes and companies to develop such tools in the project called Prospective Sustainability Assessment of Technologies (Prosuite).

An in vitro model was used to investigate effects of beta-hydroxybutyrate and isoproterenol (beta-adrenergic receptor agonist) on lipolysis in isolated adipocytes from late pregnant and recently calved dairy cows (n = 5) and cows with clinical ketosis (n =3). Incubation with 3.0 mmol/L beta-hydroxybutyrate reduced lipolysis in isolated adipocytes. This inhibitory effect was lower in the first lactation week (47% +/- 16%) compared with late pregnancy (71% +/- 6.5%). Incubation with 0.3 mu mol/L isoproterenol stimulated lipolysis in isolated adipocytes from periparturient dairy cows. Basal lipolysis resulted in non-esterified fatty acid to glycerol ratios in the incubation media of 2.0 +/- 0.23 in prepartum samples, 2.1 +/- 0.23 in the first lactation week and 2.2 +/- 0.09 in cows with clinical ketosis. beta-Hydroxybutyrate reduced lipolysis by 45% +/- 9.6% in isolated adipocytes from cows with clinical ketosis, indicating that impaired feedback of beta-hydroxybutyrate may not play a role in the disease etiology. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Several sacoglossan sea slugs (Plakobranchoidea) feed upon plastids of large unicellular algae. Four species--called long-term retention (LtR) species--are known to sequester ingested plastids within specialized cells of the digestive gland. There, the stolen plastids (kleptoplasts) remain photosynthetically active for several months, during which time LtR species can survive without additional food uptake. Kleptoplast longevity has long been puzzling, because the slugs do not sequester algal nuclei that could support photosystem maintenance. It is widely assumed that the slugs survive starvation by means of kleptoplast photosynthesis, yet direct evidence to support that view is lacking. We show that two LtR plakobranchids, Elysia timida and Plakobranchus ocellatus, incorporate (14)CO2 into acid-stable products 60- and 64-fold more rapidly in the light than in the dark, respectively. Despite this light-dependent CO2 fixation ability, light is, surprisingly, not essential for the slugs to survive starvation. LtR animals survived several months of starvation (i) in complete darkness and (ii) in the light in the presence of the photosynthesis inhibitor monolinuron, all while not losing weight faster than the control animals. Contrary to current views, sacoglossan kleptoplasts seem to be slowly digested food reserves, not a source of solar power.

Scholen voor voortgezet onderwijs hebben talrijke mogelijkheden om talentontwikkeling te stimuleren en excellentie onder hun leerlingen te bevorderen. Dit onderzoek laat aan scholen zien, welke aspecten van de leeromgeving volgens getalenteerde leerlingen belangrijk zijn om hen te stimuleren aan het werk te gaan en goede prestaties te behalen. In dit eerste hoofdstuk staan strategieën voor talentontwikkeling centraal, die gebaseerd zijn op dit onderzoek. Elke strategie wordt geïllustreerd door een citaat van een leerling.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is increasingly gaining attention as a strategy for the abatement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CCS includes the capture of CO2 emissions from electricity generation plants and/or industrial processes, its transport (by pipeline or ships) and sequestration in underground reservoirs such as deep aquifers or depleted oil and gas fields. As a novel technology, CCS is an ideal case study for testing the Prosuite methodology. The sustainability is tested using the five end-points established in Prosuite: human health, natural environment, exhaustible resources, social well-being and prosperity. This case study uses the scope defined across WP3-5 of PROSUITE. The analysis is undertaken in a prospective framework for the year 2030 under the economic scenarios developed in WP2, which themselves are based on the IEA Energy Technology Perspectives. A key component of the scenarios from WP2 relevant for the economic analysis of the CCS case is the inclusion of a cost of carbon, which in the main scenario investigated is taken from the BlueMap scenario of the IEA Energy Technology Perspectives. With the cost of carbon, coal fired power without carbon capture and storage is more expensive than coal fired power with carbon capture and storage and viceversa. The tax per kWh for the reference system is €0.07, which is markedly more than the tax of €0.02 for the prospective system. This is a result of the BLUE Map scenario assumption of a 110 $/t CO2 tax. In fact, CCS is only cheaper per functional unit when taxes (including a carbon tax) are included as an input. This indicates that that the technology is economically “non-sustainable” in the sense that it cannot compete on costs with the reference technology when a carbon tax is not levied. For the scenario evaluated, key results can be summarized as follows:  Implementation of CCS results in lower impact on the human health indicator than in the reference scenario (without CCS). In both scenarios, the decrease is mainly driven by changes in the environmental human health indicator while the role of occupational health is minor.  Implementation of CCS results on a score on impacts on the natural environment that is 70% lower than the reference scenario. This is mainly due to the significant decrease on the climate change indicator which counteracts increases shown in other environmental indicators.  Implementation of CCS results on a significant increase in the impact on exhaustible resources, which is due to an increase on fossil depletion. The effect of metal depletion is negligible compared to the large amount of fossil depletion.  With a high tax (110 $/tonne Blue map scenario), as used in this study, applying CCS results in a marked increase in economic activity, when results are analysed at the technology level. The results also show a substantial increase in working hours per functional unit. However, the results also indicate that the producer price increase more than 80% when implementing CCS.  The results for social well-being indicate that in the scenario with CCS there is an increase in total employment and knowledge intensive jobs, and a decrease in income and global inequality. However, increases in child and forced labour are also observed. The qualitative indicators reveal that issues such as trust in risk information, long term control functions, stakeholder involvement can become bottlenecks for the deployment of the technology and need to be carefully addressed as part of project development and implementation  There is a large difference in order of magnitude in the end-points. This makes the integration of results troublesome. Until this problem is solved, it is recommended to assess the results without a formal aggregation methodology. The evaluation of the Prosuite framework in the case study CCS provided support for the applicability of the developed methods, but also illustrated remaining shortcomings and challenges.

Reasons for performing study: Injuries in energy-storing tendons are common in both horses and man. The high prevalence of reinjury and the relatively poor prognosis for returning to preinjury performance levels warrant further research, for which well characterised models would be very helpful. Objectives: Given the clinical similarities in tendinopathy of energy-storing tendons, we hypothesised that a recently developed experimental model of equine tendon injury would display many of the characteristics of clinical tendinopathy and could therefore be of use for both species, thus providing comparative insight to the human condition and offering direct potential impact to equine medicine. Study design: In vivo experimental study. Methods: Surgical lesionswere created in the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) of 6 horses. Clinical examination, aswell as biochemistry, histology and immunohistochemistry were performed on the harvested samples at 6 weeks post surgery. Results: Disrupted collagen fibres, increased glycosaminoglycan content, increased presence of tenocytes with plump nuclei, the scarcity of inflammatory cells, increased matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity and neovascularisation were observed and found to be consistent with clinical tendinopathy. Conclusion and relevance: This model displays the key