Simulation of Future Land Use for Water Management - Assessing the suitability of scenario-based modelling

The problem of water shortage is increasingly getting attention within the field of water management, even in the wet Netherlands. Clean ground and surface water may become too scarce to allow for sustainable use for various functions. In order to assess the magnitude of this problem a water shortage study has been started in the Netherlands, in which the impact of land use change is an important issue. Land use models can help translate hypotheses regarding future spatial developments into maps of a possible future. These scenarios can then be used in spatial planning processes. Future land use is greatly influenced by current land use, autonomous socio-economic developments, current policy and in the long term climate changes and other changes in the physical environment. By developing scenarios that are clearly different from each other, especially on the factors that influence the problem of water shortage, divergent images of the future have been generated for 2030. In this way, a first impression has been developed for the bandwidth in which future developments can occur. The goal of this paper is to evaluate whether we are able to generate new, spatially diverse scenario’s based on existing material within a very short time period.

Gentrification through the sale of rental housing? Evidence from Amsterdam

This paper analyzes the impact of the sale of rental housing in Amsterdam on the local housing market. This increases the supply of owner-occupied housing, but can also contribute to gentrification associated with the inflow of different household groups. Earlier literature focused on the former effect and reported a negative price effect. We take a fresh look at the issue by considering the sale of private as well as social rental housing, allow for differing time trends within the municipality, controlling for area fixed effects, distinguishing between short and long-term impacts and addressing endogeneity of the sale of rental housing. The main finding is a robust gentrifying effect of the sale of private rental housing in the core area of Amsterdam

Exploring the land market in the province of Noord-Holland using a spatial explanatory regression model

This paper focuses on rural land prices. Different actors and factors influence land prices. Buurman (2003) has analysed, categorised, and used them to explain spatial differences in transaction prices of parcels using a GIS-based linear regression model. The model distinguishes parcel and transaction characteristics and uses principles of hedonic price and bid-rent theory to explain differences in land prices. Some theoretical aspects regarding the model are discussed. The regression model, estimated on a land transaction dataset covering the province of Noord-Brabant in the southern part of the Netherlands, is re-applied on a dataset covering the province of Noord-Holland. Insight is gained into actors and factors playing a role on the rural land market in this province. It seems that rural land that is included in building plans or located very close to areas for which building plans exist has a land price far higher than average. In most of these transactions, the city council is the buyer. Compared to other buyers, they pay the highest price for land in Noord-Holland. Keywords: land market, hedonic price theory, regression analysis, Noord-Holland

Choice of Frequency and Vehicle Size in Rail Transport

Frequency of services and vehicle size are important policy instruments of railway companies. Extending Mohring’s basic ‘square root model’ for frequencies, we arrive at more general formulations for frequency, vehicle size and price under alternative regimes of welfare and profit optimisation. It appears that in the more refined models the frequency response of railway companies with respect to changes in passenger volumes is not far removed from the standard square root result. Analysis of empirical data for the Netherlands shows that the responsiveness of the Dutch railway company in terms of frequency and train size to an increase in demand is low. It is estimated that an increase in the number of passengers of 1% leads to an increase in the supply of capacity of about 0.5 % (a frequency increase of about 0.35 to 0.40% and an increase of vehicle size of about 0.10%). This has important implications for the environmental costs of the railway company. An additional passenger does not lead to a proportional increase in capacity so that the marginal costs are lower than the average costs. It is further demonstrated that policies of keeping frequency and train size constant during the peak and off-peak have adverse effects on the environmental performance of railways

Choice of Frequency and Vehicle Size in Rail Transport: Implications for Marginal External Costs

Frequency of services and vehicle size are important policy instruments of railway companies. Extending Mohring’s basic ‘square root model ’ for frequencies, we arrive at more general formulations for frequency, vehicle size and price under alternative regimes of welfare and profit optimisation. It appears that in the more refined models the frequency response of railway companies with respect to changes in passenger volumes is not far removed from the standard square root result. Analysis of empirical data for the Netherlands shows that the responsiveness of the Dutch railway company in terms of frequency and train size to an increase in demand is low. It is estimated that an increase in the number of passengers of 1 % leads to an increase in the supply of capacity of about 0.5 % (a frequency increase of about 0.35 to 0.40 % and an increase of vehicle size of about 0.10%). This has important implications for the environmental costs of the railway company. An additional passenger does not lead to a proportional increase in capacity so that the marginal costs are lower than the average costs. It is further demonstrated that policies of keeping frequency and train size constant during the peak and off-peak have adverse effects on the environmental performance of railways. 1

Future land-use change in the Netherlands: an analysis based on a chain of models

Analyses of the impact of European policies on agricultural change are most often based on agricultural sector models. Such models have their limitations: they cannot specify the interaction between agriculture and the rest of the economy, and their spatial dimension is usually limited. Land use simulation models, on the other hand, usually depend on other models for assessing the demand for land. The consistency of those models with the assumptions and databases of the land use model is often not examined. This article reports on a research project where the links between a macroeconomic model, an agricultural sector model and a land use model were explicitly explored in order to arrive at a consistent model chain. This integrated framework was put to the test by applying it to two contrasting scenarios, which compare impact on agricultural incomes, land use and land management.land use, CAP, agricultural policy analyses, Netherlands, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use,

High-affinity prorenin binding to cardiac man-6-P/IGF-II receptors precedes proteolytic activation to renin

Mannose-6-phosphate (man-6-P)/insulin-like growth factor-II (man-6-P/IgF-II) receptors are involved in the activation of recombinant human prorenin by cardiomyocytes. To investigate the kinetics of this process, the nature of activation, the existence of other prorenin receptors, and binding of native prorenin, neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were incubated with recombinant, renal, or amniotic fluid prorenin with or without man-6-P. Intact and activated prorenin were measured in cell lysates with prosegment- and renin-specific antibodies, respectively. The dissociation constant (K(d)) and maximum number of binding sites (B(max)) for prorenin binding to man-6-P/IGF-II receptors were 0.6 +/- 0.1 nM and 3,840 +/- 510 receptors/myocyte, respectively. The capacity for prorenin internalization was greater than 10 times B(max). Levels of internalized intact prorenin decreased rapidly (half-life = 5 +/- 3 min) indicating proteolytic prosegment removal. Prorenin subdivision into man-6-P-free and man-6-P-containing fractions revealed that only the latter was bound. Cells also bound and activated renal but not amniotic fluid prorenin. We concluded that cardiomyocytes display high-affinity binding of renal but not extrarenal prorenin exclusively via man-6-P/IGF-II receptors. Binding precedes internalization and proteolytic activation to renin thereby supporting the concept of cardiac angiotensin formation by renal prorenin

UHPLC-MS/MS method for iohexol determination in human EDTA and lithium-heparin plasma, human urine and in goat- and pig EDTA plasma

Aim: Iohexol plasma clearance is used as an indicator of kidney function in clinical and preclinical settings. To investigate the pharmacokinetic profile of iohexol, a rapid, simple method for measurement of iohexol in different matrices and species was needed. Materials & methods: Iohexol was separated on an Accucore C18 column (Thermo Fisher Scientific, CA, USA). Detection was performed on a Thermo Scientific Quantiva tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer. The method was validated according to the requirements for bioanalytical methods issued by the US FDA and European Medicines Agency. Conclusion: We developed and validated a fast and efficient analytical method, suitable for analyzing iohexol in human EDTA plasma, human lithium-heparin plasma, human urine and goat- and pig EDTA plasma, using only one calibration line prepared in human EDTA plasma

Evaluation of the Pharmacokinetics and Exposure-Response Relationship of Dapagliflozin in Patients without Diabetes and with Chronic Kidney Disease

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose co-transporter inhibitor, was originally developed as an oral glucose-lowering drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Emerging data suggest that cardiovascular and kidney benefits extend to patients without diabetes. Limited pharmacological data are, however, available in patients without diabetes. We aimed to characterise the pharmacokinetic profile of dapagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease without type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Plasma samples were collected in a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over trial (DIAMOND, NCT03190694, n = 53) that assessed the effects of 10 mg of dapagliflozin in patients with a glomerular filtration rate ≥ 25 mL/min/1.73 m2 and proteinuria > 500 mg/day. Mixed-effects models were used to develop a pharmacokinetic model and to evaluate the association between plasma exposure and response. RESULTS: Plasma concentrations (n = 430 observations) from 48 patients (mean age 50.8 years, mean glomerular filtration rate 57.9 mL/min/1.73 m2, median proteinuria 1115 mg/24 h) were best described using a two-compartment model with first-order elimination. Apparent clearance and volume of distribution were 11.7 (95% confidence interval 10.7-12.7) L/h and 44.9 (95% confidence interval 39.0-50.9) L, respectively. Median dapagliflozin plasma exposure was 740.9 ng h/mL (2.5th-97.5th percentiles: 434.0-1615.3). Plasma exposure increased with decreasing kidney function. Every 100-ng h/mL increment in dapagliflozin plasma exposure was associated with a decrease in the urinary albumin:creatinine ratio (β = - 2.8%, p = 0.01), glomerular filtration rate (β = - 0.5 mL/min/1.73 m2, p < 0.01) and systolic blood pressure (β = - 0.4 mmHg, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The dapagliflozin plasma concentration-time profile in patients with non-diabetic kidney disease appears similar to the profile of patients with diabetic kidney disease described in the literature. Furthermore, the plasma exposure was associated with changes in risk markers for kidney disease