Soil networks become more connected and take up more carbon as nature restoration progresses

Soil organisms have an important role in aboveground community dynamics and ecosystem functioning in terrestrial ecosystems. However, most studies have considered soil biota as a black box or focussed on specific groups, whereas little is known about entire soil networks. Here we show that during the course of nature restoration on abandoned arable land a compositional shift in soil biota, preceded by tightening of the belowground networks, corresponds with enhanced efficiency of carbon uptake. In mid- and long-term abandoned field soil, carbon uptake by fungi increases without an increase in fungal biomass or shift in bacterial-to-fungal ratio. The implication of our findings is that during nature restoration the efficiency of nutrient cycling and carbon uptake can increase by a shift in fungal composition and/or fungal activity. Therefore, we propose that relationships between soil food web structure and carbon cycling in soils need to be reconsidered

An agenda for integrated system-wide interdisciplinary agri-food research

© 2017 The Author(s)This paper outlines the development of an integrated interdisciplinary approach to agri-food research, designed to address the ‘grand challenge’ of global food security. Rather than meeting this challenge by working in separate domains or via single-disciplinary perspectives, we chart the development of a system-wide approach to the food supply chain. In this approach, social and environmental questions are simultaneously addressed. Firstly, we provide a holistic model of the agri-food system, which depicts the processes involved, the principal inputs and outputs, the actors and the external influences, emphasising the system’s interactions, feedbacks and complexities. Secondly, we show how this model necessitates a research programme that includes the study of land-use, crop production and protection, food processing, storage and distribution, retailing and consumption, nutrition and public health. Acknowledging the methodological and epistemological challenges involved in developing this approach, we propose two specific ways forward. Firstly, we propose a method for analysing and modelling agri-food systems in their totality, which enables the complexity to be reduced to essential components of the whole system to allow tractable quantitative analysis using LCA and related methods. This initial analysis allows for more detailed quantification of total system resource efficiency, environmental impact and waste. Secondly, we propose a method to analyse the ethical, legal and political tensions that characterise such systems via the use of deliberative fora. We conclude by proposing an agenda for agri-food research which combines these two approaches into a rational programme for identifying, testing and implementing the new agri-technologies and agri-food policies, advocating the critical application of nexus thinking to meet the global food security challenge

Suppression of p75 Neurotrophin Receptor Surface Expression with Intrabodies Influences Bcl-xL mRNA Expression and Neurite Outgrowth in PC12 Cells

Background: Although p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) is the first neurotrophin receptor isolated, its diverse physiological functions and signaling have remained elusive for many years. Loss-of-function phenotypic analyses for p75NTR were mainly focused at the genetic level; however these approaches were impacted by off-target effect, insufficient stability, unspecific stress response or alternative active splicing products. In this study, p75NTR surface expression was suppressed for the first time at the protein level by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retained intrabodies. Results: Three monoclonal recombinant antibody fragments (scFv) with affinities in the low nanomolar range to murine p75NTR were isolated by antibody phage display. To suppress p75NTR cell surface expression, the encoding genes of these scFvs extended by the ER retention peptide KDEL were transiently transfected into the neuron-like rat pheochromocytoma cell line PC12 and the mouse neuroblastoma x mouse spinal cord hybrid cell line NSC19. The ER retained intrabody construct, SH325-G7-KDEL, mediated a downregulation of p75NTR cell surface expression as shown by flow cytometry. This effect was maintained over a period of at least eight days without activating an unfolded protein response (UPR). Moreover, the ER retention of p75NTR resulted in downregulation of mRNA levels of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL as well as in strong inhibition of NGF-induced neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells. Conclusion: The ER retained intrabody SH325-G7-KDEL not only induces phenotypic knockdown of this p75NTR but als

Teorías de desarrollo industrial regional y políticas de segunda y tercera generación

Este artículo observa cambios sustanciales en las bases conceptuales de políticas de desarrollo industrial regional. Presenta una división entre varias generaciones de políticas. La `primera generación' de políticas regionales se basó en la importancia de factores exógenos de crecimiento. La `segunda generación' de políticas se focalizó en los factores endógenos locales. Desde la mitad de los años ochenta la base teórica que sustenta estas políticas recibió impulsos fuertes de nuevos puntos de vista derivados de la nueva literatura sobre `especialización flexible' y distritos industriales. Se está formando una nueva y `tercera generación' de políticas que va más allá del crecimiento endógeno y que busca superar la separación entre políticas endógenas y exógenas. Aquí se presenta una revisión de las contribuciones a la teoría del desarrollo industrial regional que sustentan las políticas de segunda y tercera generación y una clasificación entre teorías macrorregionales y aquellas basadas en un enfoque de organización industrial. Esta revisión incluye un número selectivo de estudios de casos de Europa y América Latina<br>This article observes that the conceptual bases for regional industrial policies has been undergoing substantial changes. A distinction is made between several generations of policies. The `first generation' of regional policies was based on the importance of exogenous growth factors. The `second generation' of policies focussed on local endogenous factors. The theoretical base supporting these policies received strong impulses since the mid-80s from new insights derived from flexible specialization and industrial districts literature. A new and `third generation' of policies is emerging that goes beyond endogenous growth, and seeks to superceed the division between exogenous and endogenously oriented policies. The analysis of growth and competitiveness has moved from the firm itself, and clusters of firms and to incorporate basic and institutional conditions fostering growth. This article provides an overview of contributions to the theory of regional industrial development underlying second and third generations of regional policies. A distinction is made between macro-regional theories and those that have an industrial organization focus. The review includes a selected number of case studies drawn from Europe and Latin Americ

Hacia una reapreciación de la territorialidad del desarrollo económico

En las últimas dos décadas hemos visto una re-apreciación de la territorialidad del desarrollo económico. Este re-apreciación proviene de tres fuentes. La primera se refiere a externalidades asociados con aglomeración. Son causa de retornos crecientes en la nueva teoría de comercio internacional y son asociadas con los nuevos distritos industriales. La segunda fuente la constituye el aprendizaje colectivo y se refiere a aprendizaje por interacción entre firmas. Aprendizaje es un mecanismo de selección en la teoría evolucionaría de desarrollo económico. La tercer fuente es gobernabilidad localizado. La complejización de la organización económica que se refiere no solo a las relaciones entre firmas sino también entre firmas y las instituciones de regulación y apoyo, requiere nuevas formas de gobernabilidad

Transforming rural local government: Zimbabwe's postindependence experience

This paper is a reflection on the recent trends and future of rural local government in Zimbabwe. The paper begins with a brief description of the dualistic and very unequal preindependence local government structures. The postindependence era is subdivided into two phases: a first phase of continued separate development, and a second phase in which former 'European' rural councils and the 'African' district councils are being amalgamated. The research is based on representative samples of audited accounts. The postindependence income and expenditure trends of the two main rural local authorities and of the District Development Fund are presented. Disparities between and within types of local authorities are calculated. Against this background the (amalgamated) Rural District Councils Act (1987) is examined and key issues are highlighted. The paper ends with a brief assessment of the policy experience.

Perspectivas sobre el desarrollo económico localizado

La creciente movilidad de la producción y de los factores de producción puede haber generado una reversión de la polarización. Sin embargo, el desarrollo económico se localiza crecientemente en aglomeraciones económicas. La globalización es un fenómeno muy localizado. El propósito de este artículo es revisar tres perspectivas parcialmente sobrepuestas sobre el desarrollo económico local. Estas perspectivas corresponden en gran medida a tres factores que refuerzan la naturaleza localizada del desarrollo económico, es decir externalidades, aprendizaje colectivo y gobernabilidad. Las externalidades se refieren a fenómenos conocidos asociados con aglomeración. Más nuevo es el hecho de que constituyen una fuente de retornos crecientes. Se revisará esta nueva escuela de economía geográfica. Al mismo tiempo surgió una nueva geografía económica en base a agrupamientos y distritos industriales. Las externalidades se extienden y cambian de forma. La dinámica del desarrollo económico local puede ser vista desde la perspectiva de la economía evolucionaria. El aprendizaje en general y el aprendizaje colectivo en particular son conceptos centrales a nivel de las empresas y también a nivel de las instituciones territoriales. El aprendizaje aumenta y renueva las competencias locales para formular e implementar políticas económicas. La complejización de las relaciones entre empresas y entre empresas e instituciones territoriales es una fuente importante de sinergias y economías externas pero requiere nuevas formas de gobernabilidad, tanto a nivel industrial como territorial<br>The growing mobility of production and production factors could have contributed to a polarization reversal. However, it appears that economic development is increasingly localized in economic agglomerations. Globalization is a localized phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to review three partially overlapping perspectives on local economic development. These three perspectives broadly correspond to three factors enhancing the localized nature of economic development, namely externalities, learning and governance. Externalities are well-known phenomena associated with agglomeration. New is the fact that they constitute a source of increasing returns. This new school of geographical economics will be reviewed. At the same time a new economic geography emerged on the basis of clusters and industrial districts. Externalities are extended and change form. Dynamics of local economic development can be analizes from the perspective of evolutionary economic thinking. Learning in general and collective learning in particular are central concepts, not only at the level of firms but also at the level of territorial institutions. Learning increases and renews local competencies for economic policy. The growing complexity of relations between firms and between firms and territorial agencies is an important potential source of synergy and external economies but require new forms of governance at the level of industry and territor