Governing Social Innovation in Rural Areas: The Role of Member Based Organisations

Ausgehend von der Feststellung, dass einerseits Innovationsprozesse in ländlichen Räumen wenig erforscht sind und andererseits das Wissen um die Innovationsfähigkeit ländlicher Akteure dringend erforderlich ist, um eine nachhaltige Transformation zu erreichen, beschäftigt sich diese Dissertation mit der Frage, wie soziale Innovationsprozesse in ländlichen Räumen funktionieren und gefördert werden können. Es wurden drei Studien erstellt, die sich der Beantwortung dieser Frage aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven nähern. Beginnend mit dem Thema der nachhaltigen Zertifizierung von Ölpalmen-Kleinbauern in Indonesien, der Frage der Erhaltung und Schaffung ländlicher Infrastruktur in Deutschland und dem Thema der Energiewende und ihrer Förderung. Im Mittelpunkt aller Studien steht die Untersuchung kollektiven Handelns von mitgliederbasierten Organisationen, die als Sozialunternehmen im ländlichen Raum gegründet und betrieben werden. Zusammenfassend lässt sich feststellen, dass die Rolle von mitgliedschaftsbasierten Organisationen in ländlichen Gebieten die Untersuchung von sozialen Innovationsprozessen ermöglicht. Es konnten wichtige Merkmale und Prozesse sozialer Innovationsprozesse identifiziert werden, die nicht nur für die Förderung von mitgliederbasierten Organisationen, sondern auch für die Untersuchung nachhaltiger Transformationspfade vielversprechend sind. Die Dissertation schließt mit einer kritischen Diskussion über die Grenzen der Doktorarbeit, dem Bezug zu aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Debatten, einigen Governance Empfehlungen und einer Positionierung der Forscherin in ihrem Forschungsfeld.Based on the observation that, on the one hand, innovation processes in rural areas have been little researched and, on the other hand, knowledge about the capacity for change of rural actors urgently needs to be taken into account to achieve sustainable transformation, this dissertation deals with the question of how social innovation processes in rural areas function and can be promoted. Three studies were conducted that approach the answer to this question from different perspectives. Starting with the issue of sustainable certification of oil palm smallholders in Indonesia, the issue of maintaining and establishing rural infrastructure in Germany, and the topic of the renewable energy transition and its promotion. At the heart of all studies is an examination of collective action by membership-based organizations established and operated as social enterprises in rural areas. In conclusion, the role of membership-based organisations in rural areas enables the study of social innovation processes. Important characteristics and processes of social innovation governance could be identified, which are promising not only for promoting membership-based organisations but also for studying sustainable transformation pathways. The thesis concludes with a critical discussion about the limitations of the doctoral thesis, the reference to current scientific debates, some governance recommendations, and the researcher's positioning in his research field

Understanding Social Innovation Processes in Rural Areas: Empirical Evidence from Social Enterprises in Germany

Purpose: Against the background of increasing infrastructure loss in many rural areas, this study aims to contribute conceptually and empirically towards better understanding of rural innovation processes related to provision of public goods. Design/methodology/approach: The nationally focused understanding of innovation processes leads the debate on rural development into a dilemma that this study seeks to sidestep via the concept of social innovation. Community cooperatives – a type of social enterprise that has increasingly emerged in rural areas of Germany in the past decade – offer the opportunity to examine social innovation processes. This cross-case study reveals the broad range of activities in which such cooperatives are active and analyses their social innovation processes. Findings: The study shows that the social innovation governance framework enables examination of social innovation processes. Although macro-level policy has appeared to be an important instrument for financing social innovation, public actors at the micro-level seem barely able to initiate social innovation processes unless they are also private actors and, therefore, can pursue additional incentives. The social innovations studied here seem to differ in terms of their actor constellations and resource-allocation patterns, depending on whether they are concerned with the establishment or maintenance of local infrastructure. What they have in common, however, is the initiation of formalised collective-action processes that serve to legitimise social innovation. Originality/value: By applying an analytical framework that is new to the literature on social innovation, the study provides insight into the activities and decision-making processes of actors involved in social innovation in rural areas. In this context, community cooperatives have rarely been studied as an interface between public, private and civil society actors or as a platform for mobilising human, social and financial capital.Peer Reviewe

Toward a successful clinical neuroproteomics : the 11th HUPO Brain Proteome Project Workshop 3 March, 2009, Kolymbari, Greece

The HUPO Brain Proteome Project (HUPO BPP) held its 11th workshop in Kolymbari on March 3, 2009. The principal aim of this project is to obtain a better understanding of neurodiseases and ageing, with the ultimate objective of discovering prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers, in addition to the development of novel diagnostic techniques and new medications. The attendees came together to discuss sub-project progress in the clinical neuroproteomics of human or mouse models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and to define the needs and guidelines required for more advanced proteomics approaches. With the election of new steering committees, the members of the HUPO BPP elaborated an actual plan promoting activities, outcomes, and future directions of the HUPO BPP to acquire new funding and new participants

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Key Physiological Parameters Dictate Triggering of Activity-Dependent Bulk Endocytosis in Hippocampal Synapses

To maintain neurotransmission in central neurons, several mechanisms are employed to retrieve synaptically exocytosed membrane. The two major modes of synaptic vesicle (SV) retrieval are clathrin-mediated endocytosis and activity-dependent bulk endocytosis (ADBE). ADBE is the dominant SV retrieval mode during intense stimulation, however the precise physiological conditions that trigger this mode are not resolved. To determine these parameters we manipulated rat hippocampal neurons using a wide spectrum of stimuli by varying both the pattern and duration of stimulation. Using live-cell fluorescence imaging and electron microscopy approaches, we established that stimulation frequency, rather than the stimulation load, was critical in the triggering of ADBE. Thus two hundred action potentials, when delivered at high frequency, were sufficient to induce near maximal bulk formation. Furthermore we observed a strong correlation between SV pool size and ability to perform ADBE. We also identified that inhibitory nerve terminals were more likely to utilize ADBE and had a larger SV recycling pool. Thus ADBE in hippocampal synaptic terminals is tightly coupled to stimulation frequency and is more likely to occur in terminals with large SV pools. These results implicate ADBE as a key modulator of both hippocampal neurotransmission and plasticity

Transcriptional diversity during lineage commitment of human blood progenitors.

Blood cells derive from hematopoietic stem cells through stepwise fating events. To characterize gene expression programs driving lineage choice, we sequenced RNA from eight primary human hematopoietic progenitor populations representing the major myeloid commitment stages and the main lymphoid stage. We identified extensive cell type-specific expression changes: 6711 genes and 10,724 transcripts, enriched in non-protein-coding elements at early stages of differentiation. In addition, we found 7881 novel splice junctions and 2301 differentially used alternative splicing events, enriched in genes involved in regulatory processes. We demonstrated experimentally cell-specific isoform usage, identifying nuclear factor I/B (NFIB) as a regulator of megakaryocyte maturation-the platelet precursor. Our data highlight the complexity of fating events in closely related progenitor populations, the understanding of which is essential for the advancement of transplantation and regenerative medicine.The work described in this article was primarily supported by the European Commission Seventh Framework Program through the BLUEPRINT grant with code HEALTH-F5-2011-282510 (D.H., F.B., G.C., J.H.A.M., K.D., L.C., M.F., S.C., S.F., and S.P.G.). Research in the Ouwehand laboratory is further supported by program grants from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR, www.nihr.ac.uk; to A.A., M.K., P.P., S.B.G.J., S.N., and W.H.O.) and the British Heart Foundation under nos. RP-PG-0310-1002 and RG/09/12/28096 (www.bhf.org.uk; to A.R. and W.J.A.). K.F. and M.K. were supported by Marie Curie funding from the NETSIM FP7 program funded by the European Commission. The laboratory receives funding from the NHS Blood and Transplant for facilities. The Cambridge BioResource (www.cambridgebioresource.org.uk), the Cell Phenotyping Hub, and the Cambridge Translational GenOmics laboratory (www.catgo.org.uk) are supported by an NIHR grant to the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The BRIDGE-Bleeding and Platelet Disorders Consortium is supported by the NIHR BioResource—Rare Diseases (http://bioresource.nihr.ac.uk/; to E.T., N.F., and Whole Exome Sequencing effort). Research in the Soranzo laboratory (L.V., N.S., and S. Watt) is further supported by the Wellcome Trust (Grant Codes WT098051 and WT091310) and the EU FP7 EPIGENESYS initiative (Grant Code 257082). Research in the Cvejic laboratory (A. Cvejic and C.L.) is funded by the Cancer Research UK under grant no. C45041/A14953. S.J.S. is funded by NIHR. M.E.F. is supported by a British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Training Fellowship, no. FS/12/27/29405. E.B.-M. is supported by a Wellcome Trust grant, no. 084183/Z/07/Z. Research in the Laffan laboratory is supported by Imperial College BRC. F.A.C., C.L., and S. Westbury are supported by Medical Research Council Clinical Training Fellowships, and T.B. by a British Society of Haematology/NHS Blood and Transplant grant. R.J.R. is a Principal Research Fellow of the Wellcome Trust, grant no. 082961/Z/07/Z. Research in the Flicek laboratory is also supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 095908) and EMBL. Research in the Bertone laboratory is supported by EMBL. K.F. and C.v.G. are supported by FWO-Vlaanderen through grant G.0B17.13N. P.F. is a compensated member of the Omicia Inc. Scientific Advisory Board. This study made use of data generated by the UK10K Consortium, derived from samples from the Cohorts arm of the project.This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 26/9/14 in volume 345, number 6204, DOI: 10.1126/science.1251033. This version will be under embargo until the 26th of March 2015

Peroxisomes and the adrenergic control of white adipocytes and skeletal muscle

Peroxisomen zijn subcellulaire organellen die een belangrijke rol spelen in het lipidenmetabolisme. Hun essentiële functie wordt benadrukt door het bestaan van ziekten veroorzaakt door een peroxisomaal biogenese defe ct of door mutaties in een peroxisomaal enzym. Ze zijn voornamelijk geke nmerkt door afwijkingen in het centraal zenuwstelsel als ook ter hoogte van de lever. Tot op de dag van vandaag is echter weinig gerapporteerd o ver de functie van peroxisomen in vetweefsel. Het doel van deze thesis w as na te gaan of peroxisomen een essentiële rol vervullen bij de ontwikk eling van adipocyten, en of ze vereist zijn voor een normaal functionere n van zowel wit als bruin vetweefsel. De rol van peroxisomen in de differentiatie van preadipocyten tot adipoc yten, werd onderzocht door in vitro adipogenese van wild type en P ex5 deficiënte muriene embryonale fibroblasten. Gedurende het hele pr oces was de genexpressie van differentiatiemerkers PPAR&#947; en aP2< /&gt; niet verschillend tussen de twee groepen. Ook lipidenstapeling in de terminaal gedifferentieerde adipocyt was vergelijkbaar tussen wild type en Pex5 deficiënte fibroblasten. Hieruit konden we besluiten dat pero xisomen niet noodzakelijk zijn voor adipogenese. Om het functioneel belang van peroxisomen in vetweefsel in vivo na te gaan, werd een muismodel met selectieve eliminatie van peroxisomen in a dipocyten aangemaakt, door Pex5FL/FL muizen in te kruisen met aP2-Cre muizen (in eerste instantie ter beschikking gesteld door B. Kahn, Bo ston, USA). Deze muizenlijn was echter niet bruikbaar gezien de geringe en variabele eliminatie van peroxisomen in het vetweefsel. Daarom werd d e kweek herbegonnen met een andere aP2-Cre muizenlijn (ter beschikkin g gesteld door R. Evans, San Diego, USA). Dit muismodel vertoonde een na genoeg volledige recombinatie van het Pex5 gen in wit en in bruin vet weefsel. Er werd geen recombinatie waargenomen in meerdere andere weefse ls, zoals lever, hart, colon, spier. Onverwacht echter bleken import inc ompetente peroxisomen ook aanwezig te zijn in de hersenen en ganglia van het perifere zenuwstelsel. In vergelijking met controle muizen, hadden aP2-Pex5-/- muizen sig nificant meer wit vetweefsel, wat correleerde met verhoogde plasma waard en van leptin. Onder gevaste omstandigheden was de lipolytische capacite it gedaald. Dit ging gepaard met gedaalde genexpressie van ß3-adren erge receptoren. De hoeveelheid bruin vetweefsel daarentegen was niet ve rschillend. Naast de veranderingen in wit vetweefsel waren ook systemisc he abnormaliteiten aanwezig. Lichaamsgewicht van de aP2-Pex5-/- mu izen was lager en plasma waarden van insuline waren verhoogd. Opmerkelij k was dat ondanks de aanwezigheid van normale peroxisomen in de dwarsges treepte spier, de opname van glucose ter hoogte van de spier sterk gedaa ld was. Dit hield verband met verlaagde Glut4 genexpressie en vermind erde insuline gevoeligheid. Als gevolg hiervan was de loopcapaciteit van de aP2-Pex5-/- muizen sterk gedaald en waren ze niet in staat hun lic haamstemperatuur te handhaven bij acute blootstelling aan kou in gevaste toestand. Onder deze laatste omstandigheden, bleek de concentratie nora drenaline in plasma gehalveerd te zijn, terwijl de concentratie adrenali ne niet betrouwbaar kon gemeten worden. Aangezien muizen met selectieve eliminatie van peroxisomen in de hersenen deze metabole afwijkingen niet vertoonden, lijkt de verlaagde adrenerge respons niet afkomstig te zijn vanuit de hersenen. Het sluitende bewijs voor een verlaagde adrenerge respons in wit vetweef sel en spier van aP2-Pex5-/- muizen werd geleverd door behandeling met de niet-selectieve ß-agonist isoproterenol. Deze therapie resu lteerde in normalisatie van het aantal ß2-adrenerge receptoren e n Glut4 transporters in de dwarsgestreepte spier, in een verbeterde moto rische activiteit en in de mogelijkheid om te overleven bij acute bloots telling aan kou onder gevaste omstandigheden. Ook het aantal ß3- ad renerge receptoren in WAT normaliseerde. Wij kunnen besluiten dat de afwezigheid van peroxisomen ten gevolge van aP2-Cre expressie aanleiding geeft tot verminderde adrenerge respo ns in wit vetweefsel en spier van aP2-Pex5-/- muizen. Of deze dali ng te wijten is aan afwezigheid van peroxisomen in de perifere ganglia e n/of afwezigheid van peroxisomen in vetweefsel moet verder worden onderz ocht. Andere onbeantwoorde vragen zijn: 1) hoe kan de afwezigheid van pe roxisomen hieraan gelinkt worden, en 2) is een gedaalde adrenerge respon s ook aanwezig in andere organen.ABBREVIATIONS PREFACE I. INTRODUCTION 1 1. Adipose tissue 1 1.1. General properties 1 1.2. Adipogenesis 3 1.3. Adipose tissue innervation 5 1.4. Functions of WAT 7 1.4.1. Storage/release function 7 1.4.2. Endocrine function 9 1.5. The process of thermogenesis 12 1.5.1. Non-shivering thermogenesis 12 1.5.2. Shivering thermogenesis 13 1.5.3. Thermoregulatory thermogenesis 14 1.5.4. Diet-induced thermogenesis 16 1.5.5. Importance of BAT in humans 17 1.6. Disorders associated with adipose tissue 17 1.6.1. Obesity 17 1.6.2. Insulin resistance and type II diabetes 18 2. Peroxisomes 19 2.1. General properties and biogenesis of peroxisomes 19 2.2. Peroxisomal disorders 20 2.3. Peroxisomal metabolism and its potential role in adipose tissue 21 II. AIM 29 III. MATERIALS AND METHODS 31 1. Materials 31 2. Breeding and genotyping 31 3. Macroscopical analyses 34 4. RNA analyses 34 5. Protein analyses 37 6. Histological analyses 38 7. Lipid analyses 40 8. Metabolic analyses 41 9. Plasma analyses 43 10. Cell culture and in vitro differentiation of murine embryonic fibroblasts 43 11. Statistical analysis 44 IV. RESULTS 45 1. Peroxisomes are not necessary for normal adipocyte differentiation in vitro 45 2. Generation and evaluation of the aP2-Pex5-/- mice 46 2.1. Generation of aP2-Pex5-/- mice 46 2.2. Evaluation of tissue selectivity of Pex5 inactivation 48 2.3. Evaluation of the expression pattern of the aP2-Cre2 gene using LacZ-ROSA (R26R) reporter mice 51 3. Reduced body weight despite increased fat pads in aP2-Pex5-/- mice 54 4. Impaired function of WAT in aP2-Pex5-/- mice 58 4.1. Impaired lipolysis upon fasting in aP2-Pex5-/- mice 58 4.2. Disturbed endocrine function in aP2-Pex5-/- mice 61 5. Non-shivering thermogenesis is not affected in aP2-Pex5-/- mice 64 6. aP2-Pex5-/- mice are cold intolerant after overnight fasting 65 7. Insulin resistance in aP2-Pex5-/- mice 67 8. Functional alterations in skeletal muscle of aP2-Pex5-/- mice 71 9. No leptin resistance in aP2-Pex5-/- mice 73 10. The sympathetic nervous system is dysregulated in aP2-Pex5-/- mice 75 V. DISCUSSION 81 VI. SUMMARY 93 VII. SAMENVATTING 95 REFERENCE LIST 97 CURRICULUM VITAE 107 ADDENDUM 109nrpages: 131status: publishe

Environmental Governance Meets Reality

Multi-stakeholder sustainability certification schemes have become a favorite instrument for applying good governance, though studies indicate their inefficiency at the producer level. In this study, we used a mixed-method approach to first, map the institutional context of independent oil-palm smallholders in rural Sumatra while, second, reflecting upon the impact of the Smallholder Standard proposed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil on smallholder management practices. We hold that non-recognition of micro-scale perspectives within governance processes may partially explain noncompliance with certification principles among smallholders. The Smallholder Standard appears unable to mitigate challenges important for smallholders, who in turn cannot properly comply with it, due to problems including weather instability and high management costs. We suggest that certification schemes need to work on some overlooked but essential preconditions of good governance, namely gaining micro-level visibility and acceptance.Peer Reviewe

The Digital Transformation of the Agricultural Value Chain: Discourses on Opportunities, Challenges and Controversial Perspectives on Governance Approaches

The extent to which the digitalisation of agriculture will make a significant contribution to solving urgent sustainability challenges will depend on the design of political, legal and economic frameworks. In this context, social discourses play a central role as they not only reflect collective interpretations and systems of meaning but also reproduce power relations in “truth regimes” and prepare policy actions. While a critical scientific debate on unintended side effects of the digital transformation on agriculture has recently emerged, there is little knowledge about the discourse relations beyond academia. This article presents the results of a discourse analysis during a two-day online conference on the digital transformation of the agricultural value chain. We systematically visited and analysed sessions and presentations. The aim was to identify the main themes, concepts and ideas and different perspectives among actors from science and practice. The results show a wide range of perceived opportunities and challenges but also controversies, especially regarding governance issues such as regulation versus nonregulation, centralised versus decentralised data sharing, the appropriate design of data sovereignty models and trust and evolving inequalities. In addition, it became apparent that discourses on digitalisation are largely expert affairs. We discuss and conclude that a sustainability-oriented digital transformation requires a critical perspective, reflexivity and an adaptive governance approach where science–society collaborations play a central role