Towards a New Generation of Social Policy: Commonalities between Sustainable Welfare and the IPCC

The climate crisis calls for a new generation of social policy compatible with planetary limits and economic postgrowth circumstances. This article analyses how some of the pillars of such a new generation of social policy may be conceptualized by highlighting commonalities between the most recent IPCC report and the sustainable welfare literature. Methodologically triangulating content analysis of the IPCC report, literature review and qualitative data analysis from citizen forums, we argue that this convergence is particularly evident in four areas central to policymaking: the importance of human needs in eco-social policymaking; the identification of governance structures suitable for a social-ecological transformation; the requirement to co-develop policies via a deliberative, «bottom-up» element; and the need to decouple welfare provision from economic growt

Unstable Giants

We find giant graviton solutions in Frolov's three parameter generalization of the Lunin-Maldacena background. The background we study has $\tilde{\gamma}_1=0$ and $\tilde{\gamma}_2=\tilde{\gamma}_3=\tilde{\gamma}$. This class of backgrounds provide a non-superymmetric example of the gauge theory/gravity correspondence that can be tested quantitatively, as recently shown by Frolov, Roiban and Tseytlin. The giant graviton solutions we find have a greater energy than the point gravitons, making them unstable states. Despite this, we find striking quantitative agreement between the gauge theory and gravity descriptions of open strings attached to the giant.Comment: 1+24 pages, 2 figures; v2: coupling to NSNS B field included, refs added and typos corrected; v3 new results on stability of giants included, presentation improved, refs added; v4 final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Ispitivanje optimalnih uvjeta proizvodnje hidrolaza iz proklijalih zrna ječma i pšenice

The production of hydrolases from cereals has been examined in order to investigate food-derived enzymes as an alternative source to microbial enzymes for the use in food processes. For that, the influence of temperature on the pretreatment, imbibition and germination of barley and wheat grains was determined by measuring the β-glucosidase, β-galactosidase and lipase activities using a design of experiments. The evaluation of the statistical model showed an increase of the β-glucosidase activity with low imbibition and low germination temperature for barley grains and low imbibition and high germination temperature for wheat grains. The maximum β-glucosidase activity in wheat extracts was (585±151) nkat per g of dry mass (dm), while in barley extracts it was (109±15) nkat per g of dm. The maximum β-galactosidase activities in barley and wheat extracts were (34±12) and (63±23) nkat per g of dm, respectively. The maximum lipase activities of (6.7±0.1) and (4.6±4.4) nkat per g of dm in barley and wheat extracts, respectively, were rather low compared to the glycosidase activities. The extracts were also tested for other hydrolase activities (e.g. peptidase and α-amylase activities). The insights obtained enable the basis for the potential use of cereal hydrolases in food processing, which might be attractive to consumers.U radu je ispitana proizvodnja hidrolaza iz žitarica te mogućnost njihove primjene umjesto mikrobnih enzima u proizvodnji hrane. Istražen je utjecaj temperature na predobradu, namakanje te klijanje zrna ječma i pšenice radi praćenja aktivnosti β-glukozidaze, β-galaktozidaze i lipaze. Statistički je model pokazao da je aktivnost β-glukozidaze porasla pri niskim temperaturama namakanja i klijanja zrna ječma, te pri niskoj temperaturi namakanja i visokoj klijanja zrna pšenice. Maksimalna je aktivnost β-glukozidaze u ekstraktima pšenice bila (585±151) nkat/g, a u ekstraktima ječma (109±15) nkat/g suhe tvari, dok je najveća aktivnost β-galaktozidaze u ječmu bila (34±12) nkat/g, a u pšenici (63±23) nkat/g. U usporedbi s glikozidazom, maksimalna je aktivnost lipaze bila bitno manja i iznosila je (6,7±0,14) nkat/g suhe tvari ječma, i (4,6±4,4) nkat/g suhe tvari pšenice. Ispitane su i aktivnosti ostalih hidrolaza u ekstraktima, kao što su npr. peptidaza i α-amilaza. Rezultati ovog istraživanja čine osnovu moguće primjene hidrolaza iz žitarica u preradi hrane, što bi moglo privući pažnju kupaca

Transnationale Lebensräume und Unterstützungsnetzwerke älterer Migrantinnen und Migranten : eine Herausforderung für die Soziale Arbeit?

Schlussbericht zum gleichnamigen ForschungsprojektDie Studie untersuchte die Frage, welche Formen von Transnationalität bei älteren Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund feststellbar sind, wie Soziale Arbeit bei der Gruppe der älteren Migrantinnen und Migranten Transnationalitätsfragen bearbeitet und wie sie dadurch herausgefordert wird

Transplantation of Chemically Processed Decellularized Meniscal Allografts: A Pilot Sheep Study

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the chondroprotective effect of chemically decellularized meniscal allografts transplanted into the knee joints of adult merino sheep. Methods Lateral sheep meniscal allografts were chemically processed by a multistep method to yield acellular, sterile grafts. The grafts were transplanted into the knee joints of sheep that were treated by lateral meniscectomy. Joints treated by meniscectomy only and untreated joints served as controls. The joints were analyzed morphologically 6 and 26 weeks after surgery by the macroscopical and histological OARSI (Osteoarthritis Research Society International) score. Additionally, the meniscal grafts were biomechanically tested by cyclic indentation. Results Lateral meniscectomy was associated with significant degenerative changes of the articular cartilage of the lateral joint compartment. Transplanted lateral meniscal allografts retained their integrity during the observation period without inducing significant synovitis or foreign body reactions. Cellular repopulation of the grafts was only present on the surface and the periphery of the lateral meniscus, but was still completely lacking in the center of the grafts at week 26. Transplantation of processed meniscal allografts could not prevent degenerative changes of the articular cartilage in the lateral joint compartment. Compared with healthy menisci, the processed grafts were characterized by a significantly reduced dynamic modulus, which did not improve during the observation period of 26 weeks in vivo. Conclusion Chemically decellularized meniscal allografts proved their biocompatibility and durability without inducing immunogenic reactions. However, insufficient recellularization and inferior stiffness of the grafts hampered chondroprotective effects on the articular cartilage

Deformed PP-waves from the Lunin-Maldacena Background

In this article we study a pp-wave limit of the Lunin-Maldacena background. We show that the relevant string theory background is a homogeneous pp-wave. We obtain the string spectrum. The dual field theory is a deformation of N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. We have shown that, for a class of operators, at O(g_{YM}^2) and at leading order in N, all contributions to the anomalous dimension come from F-terms. We are able to identify the operator in the deformed super Yang-Mills which is dual to the lowest string mode. By studying the undeformed theory we are able to provide some evidence, directly in the field theory, that a small set of nearly protected operators decouple. We make some comments on operators in the Yang-Mills theory that are dual to excited string modes.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure; Final version to appear in JHE

A right to care: the social foundations of recovery from Covid-19

This report presents key findings from a 6-month ethnographic study on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on disadvantaged households and communities across the UK conducted by anthropologists from the London School of Economics, and associates. This research involved in-depth interviews and multiple surveys with people across communities in the UK, with particular focus on a number of case studies of intersecting disadvantage. Crucially, our research has found that Government policy can improve adherence to restrictions and reduce the negative impacts of the pandemic on disadvantaged communities by placing central importance on communities, social networks and households to the economy and social life. This would be the most effective way to increase public trust and adherence to Covid-19 measures, because it would recognise the suffering that communities have experienced and would build policy on the basis of what is most important to people - the thriving of their families and communities

The epithelial barrier: The gateway to allergic, autoimmune, and metabolic diseases and chronic neuropsychiatric conditions

Since the 1960 s, our health has been compromised by exposure to over 350,000 newly introduced toxic substances, contributing to the current pandemic in allergic, autoimmune and metabolic diseases. The "Epithelial Barrier Theory" postulates that these diseases are exacerbated by persistent periepithelial inflammation (epithelitis) triggered by exposure to a wide range of epithelial barrier-damaging substances as well as genetic susceptibility. The epithelial barrier serves as the body's primary physical, chemical, and immunological barrier against external stimuli. A leaky epithelial barrier facilitates the translocation of the microbiome from the surface of the afflicted tissues to interepithelial and even deeper subepithelial locations. In turn, opportunistic bacterial colonization, microbiota dysbiosis, local inflammation and impaired tissue regeneration and remodelling follow. Migration of inflammatory cells to susceptible tissues contributes to damage and inflammation, initiating and aggravating many chronic inflammatory diseases. The objective of this review is to highlight and evaluate recent studies on epithelial physiology and its role in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases in light of the epithelial barrier theory