A descriptive grammar of Sumerian

Sumerian is an ancient Near Eastern language which was spoken in what is now southern Iraq. It is known to us from numerous inscriptions and clay tablets written in cuneiform, a script invented by the Sumerians in the late fourth millennium BC. Although Sumerian became obsolete as a living language about four thousand years ago, it continued to be used as a language of scholarship and cult until the end of the first millennium BC. Sumerian is a language isolate. Its position in a remote corner of the Near East shows it to be a last remnant of the languages that preceded the arrival of Semitic languages in the area. This grammar describes the Sumerian language on the basis of written sources dating from about 2500 to 2000 BC.LEI Universiteit LeidenDescriptive and Comparative Linguistic

Effect of methanogenic substrates on anaerobic oxidation of methane and sulfate reduction by an anaerobic methanotrophic enrichment

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) coupled to sulfate reduction (SR) is assumed to be a syntrophic process, in which methanotrophic archaea produce an interspecies electron carrier (IEC), which is subsequently utilized by sulfate-reducing bacteria. In this paper, six methanogenic substrates are tested as candidate-IECs by assessing their effect on AOM and SR by an anaerobic methanotrophic enrichment. The presence of acetate, formate or hydrogen enhanced SR, but did not inhibit AOM, nor did these substrates trigger methanogenesis. Carbon monoxide also enhanced SR but slightly inhibited AOM. Methanol did not enhance SR nor did it inhibit AOM, and methanethiol inhibited both SR and AOM completely. Subsequently, it was calculated at which candidate-IEC concentrations no more Gibbs free energy can be conserved from their production from methane at the applied conditions. These concentrations were at least 1,000 times lower can the final candidate-IEC concentration in the bulk liquid. Therefore, the tested candidate-IECs could not have been produced from methane during the incubations. Hence, acetate, formate, methanol, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen can be excluded as sole IEC in AOM coupled to SR. Methanethiol did inhibit AOM and can therefore not be excluded as IEC by this study

Anaerobic oxidation of methane associated with sulfate reduction in a natural freshwater gas source

The occurrence of anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) and trace methane oxidation (TMO) was investigated in a freshwater natural gas source. Sediment samples were taken and analyzed for potential electron acceptors coupled to AOM. Long-term incubations with 13C-labeled CH4 (13CH4) and different electron acceptors showed that both AOM and TMO occurred. In most conditions, 13C-labeled CO2 (13CO2) simultaneously increased with methane formation, which is typical for TMO. In the presence of nitrate, neither methane formation nor methane oxidation occurred. Net AOM was measured only with sulfate as electron acceptor. Here, sulfide production occurred simultaneously with 13CO2 production and no methanogenesis occurred, excluding TMO as a possible source for 13CO2 production from 13CH4. Archaeal 16S rRNA gene analysis showed the highest presence of ANME-2a/b (ANaerobic MEthane oxidizing archaea) and AAA (AOM Associated Archaea) sequences in the incubations with methane and sulfate as compared with only methane addition. Higher abundance of ANME-2a/b in incubations with methane and sulfate as compared with only sulfate addition was shown by qPCR analysis. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene analysis showed the presence of sulfate-reducing bacteria belonging to SEEP-SRB1. This is the first report that explicitly shows that AOM is associated with sulfate reduction in an enrichment culture of ANME-2a/b and AAA methanotrophs and SEEP-SRB1 sulfate reducers from a low-saline environment.We thank Douwe Bartstra (Vereniging tot Behoud van de Gasbronnen in Noord-Holland, The Netherlands), Carla Frijters (Paques BV, The Netherlands) and Teun Veuskens (Laboratory of Microbiology, WUR, The Netherlands) for sampling; Martin Meirink (Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier, The Netherlands) for physicochemical data; Freek van Sambeek for providing Figure 1; Lennart Kleinjans (Laboratory of Microbiology, WUR, The Netherlands) for help with pyrosequencing analysis, Irene Sánchez-Andrea (Laboratory of Microbiology, WUR, The Netherlands) for proof-reading and Katharina Ettwig (Department of Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) for providing M. oxyfera DNA. We want to thank all anonymous reviewers for valuable contributions. This research is supported by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW (project 10711), which is part of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and which is partly funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Research of AJMS is supported by ERC grant (project 323009) and the Gravitation grant (project 024.002.002) of the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Netherlands Science Foundation (NWO)

Identiteitsontwikkeling bij autisme

Moeizame identiteitsontwikkeling heeft waarschijnlijk invloed op het welzijn van mensen met autisme door camouflagegedrag en impact op zelfbeeld/zelfconcept, zelfacceptatie en zingeving. Het doel van deze studie is om het verloop van de identiteitsontwikkeling bij autisme beter te begrijpen. Hiervoor zijn 14 mensen met autisme geïnterviewd. Participanten vertelden hoe opvattingen over ‘het zelf’ zich ontwikkelden, wat nodig is om je op je plek te voelen, zich authentiek in sociale omgevingen te kunnen gedragen, en over hoe de zoektocht naar zingeving verliep. Aanknopingspunten voor (zelf)ondersteuning in de identiteitsontwikkeling die naar voren kwamen zijn: het faciliteren van leermomenten, het beschouwen van autisme als een positieve sociale identiteit, authentiek leren zijn als product van wederzijds vertrouwen, en het leren nemen van concrete acties tot zelfrealisatie. In een vervolgproject zullen deze aanknopingspunten verder worden gebruikt om tot een geïntegreerde aanpak te komen die initiatieven bijeenbrengt die ondersteunen in de identiteitsontwikkeling

Identiteitsontwikkeling bij autisme

Moeizame identiteitsontwikkeling heeft waarschijnlijk invloed op het welzijn van mensen met autisme door camouflagegedrag en impact op zelfbeeld/zelfconcept, zelfacceptatie en zingeving. Het doel van deze studie is om het verloop van de identiteitsontwikkeling bij autisme beter te begrijpen. Hiervoor zijn 14 mensen met autisme geïnterviewd. Participanten vertelden hoe opvattingen over ‘het zelf’ zich ontwikkelden, wat nodig is om je op je plek te voelen, zich authentiek in sociale omgevingen te kunnen gedragen, en over hoe de zoektocht naar zingeving verliep. Aanknopingspunten voor (zelf)ondersteuning in de identiteitsontwikkeling die naar voren kwamen zijn: het faciliteren van leermomenten, het beschouwen van autisme als een positieve sociale identiteit, authentiek leren zijn als product van wederzijds vertrouwen, en het leren nemen van concrete acties tot zelfrealisatie. In een vervolgproject zullen deze aanknopingspunten verder worden gebruikt om tot een geïntegreerde aanpak te komen die initiatieven bijeenbrengt die ondersteunen in de identiteitsontwikkeling