(On)gewenst bezoek

"Studenten hebben een minimale bijdrage geleverd aan de totstandkoming van de zelfstudie". Zo luidde de kritiek op de geringe betrokkenheid van studenten bij het visitatieproces van Karin Huiberts het vorige nummer van de BB. Juist bij een visitatie zouden studenten volgens de redactrice betrokken dienen te worden. Zij riep studenten op zich voortaan meer te bemoeien met ontwikkelingen aangaande het onderwijs van de studierichting bestuurskunde. Met het bezoek van de visitatiecommissie doet zich direct na de zomervakantie een unieke gelegenheid voor om alsnog te laten weten wat de mening is van degenen die tenminste vier jaar lang geconfronteerd worden met de gevolgen van het onderwijsmanagement van de gemeenschappelijke studierichting bestuurskunde Leiden/Rotterdam

My country: Europe

Droom of werkelijkheid? Met de B.I.L. op excursie. Brussel inter Luxenburg. Over de kennismaking met een monster: Leviathan Europae. Het enige monster op aarde dat niet bestreden wordt om het onthoofden, maar dat verdedigd wordt om het te laten groeien

In gesprek met Amerika

De Verenigde Staten zijn het grote voorbeeld. Tegenwoordig tel je niet mee als je er niet bent geweest. Dit geldt ook voor bestuurskundestudenten. Een uitwisselingsprogramma met de Bloomington University maakt kennismaking mogelijk met de praktijk van de Nieuwe Wereld. Zo een kennismaking kost al gauw x-duizend gulden en is slechts weggelegd voor de 'happy few'. B.B. zit voor een dubbeltje op de eerste rang en brengt verslag uit van een theegesprek met twee Indiana's op bezoek in Leiden. Beide Amerikanen gedragen zich voorbeeldig

Waalkens: handelsreiziger in studenten

Hij is (bijna) drie jaar de stagecoordinator van de studierichting bestuurskunde en is in woord en gebaar een opvallende verschijning op de vijfde verdieping van Gebouw 5. Gerard Waalkens(27) was nog student-assistent bij prof. Van Braam toen deze hem vroeg om het stagegebeuren op poten te zetten. Sindsdien doorkruist de (ex-)student J.B.W. stad en land om stageplaatsen 'te regelen' en is zijn onbereikbaarheid voor studenten fenomenaal. Niettemin verraste de BB Waalkens met een bliksembezoek

Klimaatdijk een verkenning

IntroductionClimate change, land subsidence and the increasing economic value of property and activities in flood-prone areas justify the question of how we can maintain flood protection in the Netherlands at its current level, or even improve it. The changing social, scientific and technical developments and insights of our day mean that the time is ripe to consider alternatives for flood protection, other than the customary call to raise the dikes yet higher, time and again.The Climate DikeThe Climate Dike is a logical addition to the current practice of raising and reinforcing dikes. A Climate Dike is defined here as ¿a collective term for design components that result in flood defences so robust that they are virtually impossible to breach, and thus offer lasting protection, even in the face of ongoing climate change The Climate Dike concerns a type of dike that allows some wave overflow and even a limited amount of flooding, but which prevents the uncontrolled catastrophic dike breaks associated with devastating flooding of the hinterland. The number of potential victims and the resulting damage are therefore in no way comparable to those incurred when a traditional dike breaks. The risk, calculated as a product of the probability of occurrence and the resulting damage, is therefore drastically reduced.Another feature of the Climate Dike is its integrated multi-functional character. On it, a wider range of socio-economic interests can be built than on traditional dikes. This means that greater opportunities for financing also become available.Before the Climate Dike can be approached as a serious alternative, clarity is needed on the relevant information, experience, policy and knowledge that exists (and does not yet exist). The current inventory was conducted with that requirement in mind.The authors looked at, among others, projects that presented problems and challenges similar to those expected in development of a Climate Dike. These relate, among others, to technical,economic, social and spatial issues.A long time horizonBecause of its more multidisciplinary character, development of a Climate Dike requires a longer time horizon than a traditional dike. The current system of 5-yearly testing, in which dikes that fail to meet current safety standards are immediately subjected to an urgent upgrade trajectory, provides an inadequate framework for developing the Climate Dike.In the current system, evolving scientific insights, environmental conditions and safety requirements could mean that even immediately after a dike has been strengthened, the next reinforcement is just around the corner. Such a situation is clearly undesired for a multifunctional Climate Dike with, for example, buildings on it. Also, after its construction, a Climate Dike has to be able to guarantee safety for many more decades than a traditional dike, and to do so in a way that other interests can build on, literally and figuratively. A longer planning horizon and new means of anticipating on future developments are therefore essential.ChallengingThe Climate Dike has no set dimensions or form, though it does tend to be wider and less steep than traditional dikes and include a protection zone parallel to existing flood defences. It goes without saying that not every aspect of the Climate Dike concept, which is often broad in both functional and physical terms, will be applicable at every location.One of the many challenges arising in applying the Climate Dike concept is the question of how to effectively look ahead over an extremely long stretch of time (for example, a century), since we cannot predict with any certainty how society will look after such a long period. How can ideas and procedures be tailored to as yet unknown future developments? How can we best ensure the ability to adapt to new situations and insights?One of the complexities involved in developing a Climate Dike is the use of space. How can the required space be secured without having to demolish large numbers of buildings and infrastructure and without excluding large zones of land from any possible socio-economic activity, perhaps for many decades?Costs and benefitsA Climate Dike is costly, if one limits the field of vision to the safety aspect and the traditional time horizon of 50 years. Broaden the view to bring in multiple interests that over a longer time period can, literally and figuratively, build on the presence of the Climate Dike, then this form of flood protection becomes much more financially attractive. Certainly when considering other options for flood protection, such as compartmentalisation dikes or the raising of immense tracts of land.Law and legislationTo give designers and managers of flood defences more opportunity to develop the Climate Dike, modifications are required in current design guidelines and technical prerequisites. Also, it must be made clear whether and how a Climate Dike is to be subjected to the 5-yearly testing cycle. Is such testing needed if the dike is considered to be virtually impossible to breach? How do we deal with the probability of flooding versus the risk of a dike break? Current law and legislation are geared fairly specifically to the traditional dike. Alternative concepts such as the Climate Dike call for modified policies, laws and legislation, as well as newly formulated design requirements and prerequisites. Or it will have to be made clearer how these should be interpreted for such innovative concepts

Isolation of an acetyl-CoA synthetase gene (ZbACS2) from Zygosaccharomyces bailii

A gene homologous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae ACS genes, coding for acetyl-CoA synthetase, has been cloned from the yeast Zygosaccharomyces bailii ISA 1307, by using reverse genetic approaches. A probe obtained by PCR amplification from Z. bailii DNA, using primers derived from two conserved regions of yeast ACS proteins, RIGAIHSVVF (ScAcs1p; 210–219) and RVDDVVNVSG (ScAcs1p; 574–583), was used for screening a Z. bailii genomic library. Nine clones with partially overlapping inserts were isolated. The sequenced DNA fragment contains a complete ORF of 2027 bp (ZbACS2) and the deduced polypeptide shares significant homologies with the products of ACS2 genes from S. cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis (81% and 82% identity and 84% and 89% similarity, respectively). Phylogenetic analysis shows that the sequence of Zbacs2 is more closely related to the sequences from Acs2 than to those from Acs1 proteins. Moreover, this analysis revealed that the gene duplication producing Acs1 and Acs2 proteins has occurred in the common ancestor of S. cerevisiae, K. lactis, Candida albicans, C. glabrata and Debaryomyces hansenii lineages. Additionally, the cloned gene allowed growth of S. cerevisiae Scacs2 null mutant, in medium containing glucose as the only carbon and energy source, indicating that it encodes a functional acetyl-CoA synthetase. Also, S. cerevisiae cells expressing ZbACS2 have a shorter lag time, in medium containing glucose (2%, w/v) plus acetic acid (0.1–0.35%, v/v). No differences in cell response to acetic acid stress were detected both by specific growth and death rates. The mode of regulation of ZbACS2 appears to be different from ScACS2 and KlACS2, being subject to repression by a glucose pulse in acetic acid-grown cells. The nucleotide sequence of a common 5269 bp fragment has been deposited in the EMBL Data Library under Accession No. AJ314837.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PRAXIS XXI P/AGR/11135/9