Web 2.0: Nothing Changes…but Everything is Different

For some, Web 2.0 is a "simple" evolution of the current web; for others, Web 2.0 is a real revolution. Web 2.0 is, in fact, a "revolutionary evolution." Technically speaking, Web 2.0 is a "simple" evolution because it is not a technical "breakthrough," as it is essentially based on an aggregation of existing technologies. However, the impact of Web 2.0 is such that it can actually be described as an evolution that will shake our sociological, economic and legal bases. This paper addresses the legal aspects of Web 2.0 and tries to explain that while Web 2.0 is not a lawless domain, it is highly likely to create a legal tsunami.Web 2.0; regulation; law; case law; blogs; liability; intellectual property; personal data; knowledge management; collaborative space and employment law

SUREVEG - Strip-cropping and recycling of waste for biodiverse and resoURce-Efficient intensive VEGetable production

The rise in demand for organically grown vegetables requires further optimization of the current organic cultivation systems, with even more attention for biodiversity and soil fertility. That is why this year the new, European partnership SUREVEG is starting. The focus is on strip-cropping and on the use of vegetable residual streams as soil improvers and as fertilizers

SUREVEG: Europese projectgroep bezoekt proefhoeve Inagro en workshop levert belangrijke input

Van 24 tot 26 september vond de tweede projectmeeting van het Core Organic project SUREVEG plaats. In dit project worden strokenteelt en gecomposteerde plantaardige reststromen onderzocht als nieuw teeltsysteem voor biologische volleveldsgroenten. Op 25 september bezocht de projectgroep de proef op het proefbedrijf van Inagro. Op 10 oktober werd een workshop georganiseerd op het biobedrijfsneterk

Strokenteelt en vast rijpadensysteem beloftevolle nieuwe technieken in biolandbouw

De moderne bioboer draagt misschien nog wel lekker warme geitenwollensokken maar zit tegenwoordig ook op zijn tractor achter een hoogtechnologische machine. Joran Barbry van Inagro vertelt hoe een innovatieve techniek als strokenteelt in combinatie met een vast rijpadensysteem positieve effecten heeft op de productiviteit, de biodiversiteit en de bodemkwaliteit

Plasmonic response of metallic nanojunctions driven by single atom motion: Quantum transport revealed in optics

The correlation between transport properties across subnanometric metallic gaps and the optical response of the system is a complex effect that is determined by the fine atomic-scale details of the junction structure. As experimental advances are progressively accessing transport and optical characterization of smaller nanojunctions, a clear connection between the structural, electronic, and optical properties in these nanocavities is needed. Using ab initio calculations, we present here a study of the simultaneous evolution of the structure and the optical response of a plasmonic junction as the particles forming the cavity, two Na380 clusters, approach and retract. Atomic reorganizations are responsible for a large hysteresis of the plasmonic response of the system, which shows a jump-to-contact instability during the approach process and the formation of an atom-sized neck across the junction during retraction. Our calculations demonstrate that, due to the quantization of the conductance in metal nanocontacts, atomic-scale reconfigurations play a crucial role in determining the optical response of the whole system. We observe abrupt changes in the intensities and spectral positions of the dominating plasmon resonances and find a one-to-one correspondence between these jumps and those of the quantized transport as the neck cross-section diminishes. These results reveal an important connection between transport and optics at the atomic scale, which is at the frontier of current optoelectronics and can drive new options in optical engineering of signals driven by the motion and manipulation of single atoms.We acknowledge financial support from Projects FIS2013-41184-P and MAT2013-46593-C6-2-P from MINECO. M.B., P.K., F.M., and D.S.P. also acknowledge support from the ANR-ORGAVOLT project and the Euroregion Aquitaine-Euskadi program. M.B. acknowledges support from the Departamento de Educacion of the Basque Government through a Ph.D. grant. P.K. acknowledges financial support from the Fellows Gipuzkoa program of the Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia through the FEDER funding scheme of the European Union. J.A. also acknowledges support from Grant 70NANB15H321, “PLASMOQUANTUM”, from the US Department of Commerce (NIST).Peer Reviewe

Overview of farmers expected benefits of diversification. Report on national stakeholder involvement.

Seven different European countries are participating in a transnational project SUREVEG (Strip-cropping and recycling of waste for biodiverse and resoURce-Efficient intensive VEGetable production). SUREVEG focuses on developing and implementing new diversified, intensive organic cropping systems using strip-cropping and fertility strategies from plant-based fertilizers for improved resilience, system sustainability, local nutrient recycling and soil carbon storage. This study focuses on providing references concerning benefits and drawbacks of strip-cropping and plant residues for soil fertility in field vegetable production at medium sized organic farms. Specifically to identify local stakeholders’ knowledge and develop ideas in an iterative approach on benefits of diversification in space, time and genes, and plant-based fertilizers. Activities included workshops with stakeholder involvement, to increase awareness and dialogue on strip-cropping and identify local technical and practical knowledge on organic systems. A survey was developed as a tool for having a more systematic discussion with the stakeholders in the workshops. With a selection of questions to analysis the performance criteria of strip-cropping in farmers perspective a transnational comparison of the findings is presented,. The workshops and surveys were executed in six different European countries. In total approximately 140 farmers and other stakeholders were participating in the workshops and 38 farmers filled out the survey. The outcome of the survey and workshops in the different countries suggests that most farmers think fairly equally about the added values of strip-cropping. Higher resistance of crops against plagues and diseases is ranked high in all countries. This is followed by soil quality and benefits from increased agroecosystem biodiversity. Only Belgian farmers mentioned higher yield as an important added value, however certain individual farmers in different counties have ranked it high as well. Divers answers were given on the question on the most suitable width of the cropping-strips. For farmers this depends mostly on the machinery farmers have available for their daily practices. For the importance of crop traits, the efficient use of nutrients and resilience against diseases and plagues scored high throughout all countries investigated. Only Italian farmers mentioned nitrogen-fixing capacity as an important trait. The farmers in all countries thought the same about expected bottlenecks for implementing strip-cropping system: harvesting, weed control and technical problems. The information obtained by the survey and workshops in the different countries is input for the experimental design of field trials in each country. Some countries changed their set-up for following years. To conclude, in the participating countries, the use of strip-cropping is still limited. The farmers participating, consider strip-cropping a promising innovation. However, a lot of basic questions about strip-cropping still need to be answered for farmers before implementing strip-cropping. Farmers in every country will benefit from a database of best crops combinations. In Finland, the farmers explicitly mentioned the need of good companion crops for Brassicaceae and Apiaceae vegetables (suitable trap crops)

Atomistic near-field nanoplasmonics: Reaching atomic-scale resolution in nanooptics

Electromagnetic field localization in nanoantennas is one of the leitmotivs that drives the development of plasmonics. The near-fields in these plasmonic nanoantennas are commonly addressed theoretically within classical frameworks that neglect atomic-scale features. This approach is often appropriate since the irregularities produced at the atomic scale are typically hidden in far-field optical spectroscopies. However, a variety of physical and chemical processes rely on the fine distribution of the local fields at this ultraconfined scale. We use time-dependent density functional theory and perform atomistic quantum mechanical calculations of the optical response of plasmonic nanoparticles, and their dimers, characterized by the presence of crystallographic planes, facets, vertices, and steps. Using sodium clusters as an example, we show that the atomistic details of the nanoparticles morphologies determine the presence of subnanometric near-field hot spots that are further enhanced by the action of the underlying nanometric plasmonic fields. This situation is analogue to a self-similar nanoantenna cascade effect, scaled down to atomic dimensions, and it provides new insights into the limits of field enhancement and confinement, with important implications in the optical resolution of field-enhanced spectroscopies and microscopies.We acknowledge financial support from projects FIS2013-14481-P and MAT2013-46593-C6-2-P from MINECO. M.B., P.K., F.M., and D.S.P. also acknowledge support from the ANR-ORGAVOLT project and the Euroregion Aquitaine-Euskadi program. M.B. acknowledges support from the Departamento de Educacion of the Basque Government through a PhD grant, as well as from Euskampus and the DIPC at the initial stages of this work. R.E. and P.K. acknowledge financial support from the Fellows Gipuzkoa program of the Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia through the FEDER funding scheme of the European Union, “Una manera de hacer Europa”.Peer Reviewe

Plasmons in nanoparticles: atomistic Ab Initio theory for large systems

205 p.El trabajo realizado en esta tesis doctoral se centra en la implementación de nuevos algoritmos y de suaplicación en diferentes tipos de nanoestructuras. El programa científico en el que se han llevado a cabolas extensiones es una implementación eficiente de la teoría funcional de densidad dependiente deltiempo, conocida como MBPT-LCAO.Las principales extensiones realizadas son las siguientes: implementación de la espectroscopía de pérdidade energía de electrones en el espacio real, mejora del procedimiento iterativo para permitir cálculos degran tamaño sin precedentes, cálculo del campo eléctrico inducido e implementación de la espectroscopíade dispersión Raman.Estas implementaciones se han utilizado en agregados y agregados dímeros de sodio y plata, así como ennanotubos de carbono y nitruro de boro. Se han calculado tanto el espectro de absorción como los camposeléctricos inducidos para todos estos sistemas. De esta forma, este trabajo nos ha permitido entendermejor la respuesta de tales nanoestructuras bajo la influencia de una perturbación externa

RNY-derived small RNAs as a signature of coronary artery disease

International audienceBackgroundData from next generation sequencing technologies uncovered the existence of many classes of small RNAs. Recent studies reported that small RNAs are released by cells and can be detected in the blood. In this report, we aimed to discover the occurrence of novel circulating small RNAs in coronary artery disease (CAD).MethodsWe used high-throughput sequencing of small RNAs from human and mouse apoptotic primary macrophages, and analyzed the data by empirical Bayes moderated t-statistics to assess differential expression and the Benjamini and Hochberg method to control the false discovery rate. Results were then confirmed by Northern blot and RT-qPCR in foam cells and in two animal models for atherosclerosis, namely ApoE −/− and Ldlr −/− mouse lines. Quantitative RT-PCR to detect identified small RNAs, the RNY-derived small RNAs, was performed using sera of 263 patients with CAD compared to 514 matched healthy controls; the Student t-test was applied to statistically assess differences. Associations of small RNAs with clinical characteristics and biological markers were tested using Spearman’s rank correlations, while multivariate logistic regressions were performed to test the statistical association of small RNA levels with CAD.ResultsHere, we report that, in macrophages stimulated with pro-apoptotic or pro-atherogenic stimuli, the Ro-associated non-coding RNAs, called RNYs or Y-RNAs, are processed into small RNAs (~24–34 nt) referred to as small-RNYs (s-RNYs), including s-RNY1-5p processed from RNY1. A significant upregulation of s-RNY expression was found in aortic arches and blood plasma from ApoE −/− and Ldlr −/− mice and in serum from CAD patients (P <0.001). Biostatistical analysis revealed a positive association of s-RNY1-5p with hs-CRP and ApoB levels; however, no statistical interaction was found between either of these two markers and s-RNY1-5p in relation to the CAD status. Levels of s-RNY1-5p were also independent from statin and fibrate therapies.ConclusionOur results position the s-RNY1-5p as a relevant novel independent diagnostic biomarker for atherosclerosis-related diseases. Measurement of circulating s-RNY expression would be a valuable companion diagnostic to monitor foam cell apoptosis during atherosclerosis pathogenesis and to evaluate patient’s responsiveness to future therapeutic strategies aiming to attenuate apoptosis in foam cells in advanced atherosclerotic lesions