A knowledge broker in the middle:making connections in the city.: The case of Delft, the Netherlands

The Erasmus+ funded project Socially Engaged Universities (SEU) is aiming to explore different models of community university partnerships (CUPs) and to share experience and expertise of how European Universities can work with and for their local communities through “Third Mission” activities in addition to their core teaching and research tasks. Within the framework of City Deal on Education Delft, the knowledge broker was appointed to develop the City Lab Delft (Tanthof). Reflections on the role of the knowledge broker in its first 18 months of functioning are presented here. Different parties involved in two projects (cases) were interviewed to assess the benefits and challenges that were experienced with the position of the knowledge broker. We spoke with strategic advisors of the municipality, professionals from the neighborhood, and different representatives of the knowledge institutions. These parties were recommended by the knowledge broker. The question we tried to answer was: “What are the benefits and challenges of working with a knowledge broker, according to the three involved parties?” Different partners of the knowledge broker were interviewed between June 2020 and April 2021. For more information about the project please visit: www.seuproject.eu

Reliability based vulnerability modelling of metal-clad industrial buildings to extreme wind loading for cyclonic regions

This paper presents an approach for developing a vulnerability model to predict the probability and extent of damage to metal-clad industrial buildings due to extreme wind loading. Structural reliability-based methods that describe the spatially distributed wind load and component/connection strengths probabilistically are used in the model. Two failure mechanisms are considered for the roof envelop, namely; failure of roof cladding, and purlin failure. Interdependency between the failure mechanisms, load sharing effects due to connection/component failure, and internal pressure variation due to roof cladding failure are also considered. The industrial building examined in the study is a hot rolled structural steel, metal-clad, gable-end building designed for cyclonic regions in Australia. The likelihood and extent of roof damage for this buildings is presented using wind vulnerability curves obtained from the probabilistic model. It is found that internal pressure (e.g. an open door) and the use of cyclone washers has a significant effect on wind vulnerability. The utilisation of cyclone washers is found to reduce damage risks by over 70%

Whole-Exome Sequencing Identifies Loci Associated with Blood Cell Traits and Reveals a Role for Alternative GFI1B Splice Variants in Human Hematopoiesis

Circulating blood cell counts and indices are important indicators of hematopoietic function and a number of clinical parameters, such as blood oxygen-carrying capacity, inflammation, and hemostasis. By performing whole-exome sequence association analyses of hematologic quantitative traits in 15,459 community-dwelling individuals, followed by in silico replication in up to 52,024 independent samples, we identified two previously undescribed coding variants associated with lower platelet count: a common missense variant in CPS1 (rs1047891, MAF = 0.33, discovery + replication p = 6.38 × 10−10) and a rare synonymous variant in GFI1B (rs150813342, MAF = 0.009, discovery + replication p = 1.79 × 10−27). By performing CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in hematopoietic cell lines and follow-up targeted knockdown experiments in primary human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, we demonstrate an alternative splicing mechanism by which the GFI1B rs150813342 variant suppresses formation of a GFI1B isoform that pre