Титульні сторінки

In an effort to combat the complexity and uncertainty that comes with megainfrastructure development, planners often seek to simplify the process and scope of their projects, making plans that consist of rigid sequential steps. The question is how this approach influences planners’ responsiveness to uncertainty and complexity in megaproject decision making and planning. To answer this question I introduce two concepts: adaptive capacity and strategic capacity. I develop these concepts and apply them to three large infrastructure projects in the Netherlands in order to analyze the potential of these projects to deal with change and inertia. In this paper I first look at the concepts individually and then link them together. This shows that, to be successful, planning needs to navigate a project through uncertainty and complexity and that it is important that these concepts are taken into consideration

Renaturing the city: Factors contributing to upscaling green schoolyards in Amsterdam and The Hague

To increase urban climate resilience, the renaturing of cities plays an important role. One strategy is the greening of schoolyards to increase climate resilience and bring additional benefits such as nature education and a healthy environment. While these are small projects, they could make a significant impact if they can be upscaled. With the intent of identifying the local barriers to the upscaling of green schoolyards, this research applies an upscaling framework to analyze and compare two initiatives that incentivize the greening of schoolyards by providing funds to local schools in Amsterdam and The Hague. There is not one barrier but a combination that seems to prevent upscaling, so it is a combination of factors that prevents the successful up-taking of green schoolyards: lack of environmental awareness, difficulties in acquiring monetary funds, lack of time and expertise from the demand-side, complexity of the bureaucratic processes, and lack of political will

Understanding the institutional work of boundary objects in climate-proofing cities:The case of Amsterdam Rainproof

Creating climate-proof cities typically comes with institutional barriers between public and private parties. Therefore, local governments are increasingly establishing local climate adaptation networks through which collective knowledge and action can be developed. We aim to understand how these networks can initiate institutional change that enables a climate-proof city. To this end, we theorize that boundary objects – either conceptual or material artifacts – that allow different groups to work together without consensus are important instruments of institutional work strategies that aim to change or disrupt established institutional structures. Our case study of Amsterdam Rainproof in the Netherlands, a frontrunner in urban climate networks, shows that shared concepts and models developed in city networks seem to primarily contribute to capacity building (generating interdisciplinary knowledge about a climate-proof city), agenda-setting (underscoring the urgency of climate adaptation), and the creation of new normative identities (climate adaptation as the joint responsibility of urban actors). Accordingly, boundary objects in the case study transform the cultural-cognitive and normative pillars of institutions, while the regulative pillar (enforcement and sanctioning) is more difficult to change. Altogether, our case study analysis suggests that local climate adaptation networks might not result in a climate-proof city in the short term but can provide a better breeding ground for climate-proofing cities in the long run.</p

Associations between Gut Microbiota and Common Luminal Intestinal Parasites

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier (Cell Press) via the DOI in this record.The development and integration of DNA-based methods in research and clinical microbiology laboratories have enabled standardised and comprehensive detection and differentiation of the microbes colonising our guts. For instance, the single-celled parasites Blastocystis and Dientamoeba appear to be much more common than previously thought, especially so in healthy individuals. While increasing evidence appears to suggest limited pathogenicity of these parasites, next-generation-sequencing-based studies have helped us to appreciate links between parasite colonisation and certain host phenotypical characteristics and gut microbial profiles. The fundamental question remains as to whether such parasites are merely indicators or active manipulators of gut microbiota structure and function. In this article, we collate existing evidence that these parasites are, at minimum, indicators of intestinal microbiota structure

Доступ до електронно-інформаційної інфраструктури та технологій в Україні

Про подальший розвиток електронно-інформаційної інфраструктури в Україні.О дальнейшем развитии электронно-информационной инфраструктуры в Украине.On further development of electronic-informative infrastructure in Ukraine