Instrumenten voor maatschappelijke betrokkenheid : Everzicht en analyse van vier cases

This technical report describes a study of the ways in which government authorities promote social engagement in support of public objectives. The research focused on how government policy instruments promote social engagement in support of public objectives. A long list of instruments was drawn up and four cases studies on the use of such instruments were carried out and analysed. The instruments are Green Deals, the Dutch National Fund for Green Investments (Groenfonds), the ‘Acceleration Agenda for the Do- Democracy’ (Versnellingsagenda Doe-democratie) and the ‘Social Participation Code’ (Code Maatschappelijke Participatie). Each of these can be seen as a different ‘flavour’ of the promotion of social engagement and of practices to learn from. The conclusions are that: 1) mobilising social engagement is not restricted to nature policy; 2) each instrument is part of a wider approach and has its own contexts and specific focus on social engagement, which can also shift over time; 3) the instruments investigated create an interface between national government and society; 4) as a result, social capital accumulates between parties and this can be used to give practical shape to social engagement; and 5) it is plausible that this actually takes place. Social engagement in support of public objectives is not yet standard practice, but is part of an emerging approach by a networking and responsive government in which society and government participate in each other’s initiatives. For government authorities it is important to develop the capacity to do this and to take a systematic and learning-based approach in which attention is given to performance and legitimacy

Natuur en landschap in de Omgevingswet

In 2021 wordt de nieuwe Omgevingswet ingevoerd. De exacte consequenties voor de praktijk van natuurbescherming zijn nog niet goed te overzien omdat nog niet alle teksten definitief zijn. Daarnaast is het onduidelijk of de stelselherziening van het omgevingsrecht met de Omgevingswet tot betere besluitvorming zal leiden voor de dossiers natuur en landschap. Eén van de redenen is dat er geen landelijk kader is voor integrale afweging. Wel is al duidelijk dat de omzetting van oude naar nieuwe wetgeving niet geheel beleidsneutraal verloopt. Hierdoor wordt bijvoorbeeld de bescherming van het nationaal natuurnetwerk minder sterk.---The new Environment and Planning Act comes into force in 2021. The exact consequences for nature conservation cannot yet be fully ascertained because the relevant documents have not all been completed. In addition, it is not clear whether or not the reform of environmental and planning law under the Environment and Planning Act will lead to better decision making on nature and landscape. One of the reasons for this is that there is no national framework for integrated appraisal. What is clear is that the transition from the old to the new legislation will not be entirely policy neutral. For one thing, the level of protection afforded the national ecological network will be reduced

Molecular misreading: The occurrence of frameshift proteins in different diseases

Neuronal homoeostasis requires a constant balance between biosynthetic and catabolic processes. Eukaryotic cells primarily use two distinct mechanisms for degradation: the proteasome and autophagy of aggregates by the lysosomes. We focused on the UPS (ubiquitin-proteasome system). As a result of molecular misreading, misframed UBB (ubiquitin B) (UBB+1) is generated. UBB+1 accumulates in the neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in all patients with AD (Alzheimer's disease) and in the neuronal and glial hallmarks of other tauopathies and in polyglutamine diseases such as Huntington's disease. UBB+1 is not present in synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease. We showed that UBB+1 causes UPS dysfunction, aggregation and apoptotic cell death. UBB+1 is also present in non-neurological cells, hepatocytes of the diseased liver and in muscles during inclusion body myositis. Other frequently occurring (age-related) diseases such as Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus are currently under investigation. These findings point to the importance of the UPS in diseases and open new avenues for target identification of the main players of the UPS. Treatment of these diseases with tools (e.g. viral RNA interference constructs) to intervene with specific targets is the next step

Glauber dynamics in a single-chain magnet: From theory to real systems

The Glauber dynamics is studied in a single-chain magnet. As predicted, a single relaxation mode of the magnetization is found. Above 2.7 K, the thermally activated relaxation time is mainly governed by the effect of magnetic correlations and the energy barrier experienced by each magnetic unit. This result is in perfect agreement with independent thermodynamical measurements. Below 2.7 K, a crossover towards a relaxation regime is observed that is interpreted as the manifestation of finite-size effects. The temperature dependences of the relaxation time and of the magnetic susceptibility reveal the importance of the boundary conditions.Comment: Submitted to PRL 10 May 2003. Submitted to PRB 12 December 2003; published 15 April 200

Pair contact process with a particle source

We study the phase diagram and critical behavior of the one-dimensional pair contact process (PCP) with a particle source using cluster approximations and extensive simulations. The source creates isolated particles only, not pairs, and so couples not to the order parameter (the pair density) but to a non-ordering field, whose state influences the evolution of the order parameter. While the critical point p_c shows a singular dependence on the source intensity, the critical exponents appear to be unaffected by the presence of the source, except possibly for a small change in beta. In the course of our study we obtain high-precision values for the critical exponents of the standard PCP, confirming directed-percolation-like scaling.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

One-carbon metabolism in cancer

Cells require one-carbon units for nucleotide synthesis, methylation and reductive metabolism, and these pathways support the high proliferative rate of cancer cells. As such, anti-folates, drugs that target one-carbon metabolism, have long been used in the treatment of cancer. Amino acids, such as serine are a major one-carbon source, and cancer cells are particularly susceptible to deprivation of one-carbon units by serine restriction or inhibition of de novo serine synthesis. Recent work has also begun to decipher the specific pathways and sub-cellular compartments that are important for one-carbon metabolism in cancer cells. In this review we summarise the historical understanding of one-carbon metabolism in cancer, describe the recent findings regarding the generation and usage of one-carbon units and explore possible future therapeutics that could exploit the dependency of cancer cells on one-carbon metabolism

Universal finite-size scaling amplitudes in anisotropic scaling

Phenomenological scaling arguments suggest the existence of universal amplitudes in the finite-size scaling of certain correlation lengths in strongly anisotropic or dynamical phase transitions. For equilibrium systems, provided that translation invariance and hyperscaling are valid, the Privman-Fisher scaling form of isotropic equilibrium phase transitions is readily generalized. For non-equilibrium systems, universality is shown analytically for directed percolation and is tested numerically in the annihilation-coagulation model and in the pair contact process with diffusion. In these models, for both periodic and free boundary conditions, the universality of the finite-size scaling amplitude of the leading relaxation time is checked. Amplitude universality reveals strong transient effects along the active-inactive transition line in the pair contact process.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, 2 figures, final version, to appear in J. Phys.