The hybrid spatialities of transition: capitalism, legacy, and uneven urban economic restructuring

This paper conceptualises post-socialist urban economic geographies through the notion of hybrid spatialities that emerge from the mutual embeddedness of neoliberalism and socialist legacies. While the dismantling of state socialism was a massive moment towards the exacerbation of uneven development, ironically it is the socialist-era spatial legacy that has become the single major differentiating factor for the economic status of cities. This superficial overdetermination, however, masks the root causes of uneven development that must be seen in the logic of capitalism and its attendant practices which subsume legacy, recode its meaning, and recast the formerly equalitarian spaces as an uneven spatial order. The authors argue that the socialist legacy, rather than being an independent carrier of history, has been alienated from its history to become an infrastructure of neoliberalisation, conducive to capitalist process. The paper draws specifically on the experiences of Russia, although its reflections should reverberate much more broadly

Eggs in the Freezer: Energetic Consequences of Nest Site and Nest Design in Arctic Breeding Shorebirds

Birds construct nests for several reasons. For species that breed in the Arctic, the insulative properties of nests are very important. Incubation is costly there and due to an increasing surface to volume ratio, more so in smaller species. Small species are therefore more likely to place their nests in thermally favourable microhabitats and/or to invest more in nest insulation than large species. To test this hypothesis, we examined characteristics of nests of six Arctic breeding shorebird species. All species chose thermally favourable nesting sites in a higher proportion than expected on the basis of habitat availability. Site choice did not differ between species. Depth to frozen ground, measured near the nests, decreased in the course of the season at similar non-species-specific speeds, but this depth increased with species size. Nest cup depth and nest scrape depth (nest cup without the lining) were unrelated to body mass (we applied an exponent of 0.73, to account for metabolic activity of the differently sized species). Cup depth divided by diameter2 was used as a measure of nest cup shape. Small species had narrow and deep nests, while large species had wide shallow nests. The thickness of nest lining varied between 0.1 cm and 7.6 cm, and decreased significantly with body mass. We reconstruct the combined effect of different nest properties on the egg cooling coefficient using previously published quantitative relationships. The predicted effect of nest cup depth and lining depth on heat loss to the frozen ground did not correlate with body mass, but the sheltering effect of nest cup diameter against wind and the effects of lining material on the cooling coefficient increased with body mass. Our results suggest that small arctic shorebirds invest more in the insulation of their nests than large species

Innovative business model for a standardised evaluation and re-financing of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects

Promising industrial energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) projects in Europe lack viable financing due to insufficient performance or credit guarantees, lack of ability/capacity among lenders to assess project risks, or related financing challenges. To overcome these barriers, the H2020 project TrustEE launched in 2016 to accelerate implementation of EE and RE solutions by developing an innovative project financing model and digital platform to standardise project evaluation. The innovative business model, which targets SMEs, combines project evaluation and development, contracting, risk hedging and external financing via a two-pronged approach. First, TrustEE established a securitization vehicle (“Sustainable Future Trustee”), which purchases receivables from technology supplier's who have successfully installed and commissioned industrial EE and RE projects. These purchases allow industrial SMEs (end users and suppliers) to create flexible project payment plans, and are financed by tradable securities offered to investors on the capital market. Investors are de-coupled from most technical risks as projects are already commissioned. This vehicle is supported and serviced by a semi-automatic project evaluation, using a three-stage, web-based platform. Stages 1 and 2 perform an automated technical and financial evaluation by comparing the project parameters to an automatic background simulation that uses comprehensive models for the envisaged EE and RE technologies. If a project meets the screening criteria, the TrustEE manager initiatives Stage 3, which includes technical optimization and legal and insurance-related preparation for re-financing. In the long term, plant and technology suppliers will be able to qualify and register on the platform, thus building a pool of certified suppliers. The paper presents real projects initiated by TrustEE and the performance and impacts from the project evaluation platform (TrustEE platform) and re-financing vehicle

Independent gene duplications of the YidC/Oxa/Alb3 family enabled a specialized cotranslational function

YidC/Oxa/Alb3 family proteins catalyze the insertion of integral membrane proteins in bacteria, mitochondria, and chloroplasts, respectively. Unlike gram-negative organisms, gram-positive bacteria express 2 paralogs of this family, YidC1/SpoIIIJ and YidC2/YgjG. In Streptococcus mutans, deletion of yidC2 results in a stress-sensitive phenotype similar to that of mutants lacking the signal recognition particle (SRP) protein translocation pathway, while deletion of yidC1 has a less severe phenotype. In contrast to eukaryotes and gram-negative bacteria, SRP-deficient mutants are viable in S. mutans; however, double SRP-yidC2 mutants are severely compromised. Thus, YidC2 may enable loss of the SRP by playing an independent but overlapping role in cotranslational protein insertion into the membrane. This is reminiscent of the situation in mitochondria that lack an SRP pathway and where Oxa1 facilitates cotranslational membrane protein insertion by binding directly to translation-active ribosomes. Here, we show that OXA1 complements a lack of yidC2 in S. mutans. YidC2 also functions reciprocally in oxa1-deficient Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants and mediates the cotranslational insertion of mitochondrial translation products into the inner membrane. YidC2, like Oxa1, contains a positively charged C-terminal extension and associates with translating ribosomes. Our results are consistent with a gene-duplication event in gram-positive bacteria that enabled the specialization of a YidC isoform that mediates cotranslational activity independent of an SRP pathway

The transformative power of cooperation between social movements : squatting and tenants’ movements in Poland

Squatting, or the use of property without the legal permission, and tenants’ activism are under-researched areas, in particular in the post-socialist context. Poland has been pointed out as extraordinary on the map of squatting in post-socialist Europe and a considerable number of tenants’ organizations are active in the country. What is most interesting is that squatters’ and tenants’ activists are forming alliances, despite their obvious differences in their organizational models, social composition, along with the specific motives and goals of their activism. The objective of this article is to examine the relations between the tenants’ and squatting movements in Poland by studying two cities where both movements are established and closely cooperating. In particular we are interested in the transformative power of such cooperation and we assume that cooperation between social movements results in negotiations and transformations of the social movement actors involved. The empirical foundations for this article are 50 interviews, whereof 30 interviews conducted in Warsaw with squatters and tenants’ movement activists and 20 interviews conducted with activists in Poznań. Warsaw and Poznań are, moreover, two Polish cities where the squatting movement is most vibrant and where squatters and tenants have achieved some considerable successes in their activities. The article argues against previous studies emphasizing access to abundant resources and identity alignment as crucial for the mobilization of collective and collaborative action. Instead, it argues that the lack of resources might also be driving social movements towards cooperation, as a kind of compensation. Moreover, our cases demonstrate that ideology and identity alignment in social movements create stagnation with regard to openness towards new allies. We therefore argue that a high degree of identity alignment and ideological consistency might discourage the formation of new alliances.Institutionella begränsningar och kreativa lösningarChallenging the myths of weak civil society in post-socialist settings: "Unexpected" alliances and mobilizations in the field of housing activism in PolandAnarkister i Öst- och Västeuropa - en jämförande studi

The transformative power of cooperation between social movements : squatting and tenants’ movements in Poland

Squatting, or the use of property without the legal permission, and tenants’ activism are under-researched areas, in particular in the post-socialist context. Poland has been pointed out as extraordinary on the map of squatting in post-socialist Europe and a considerable number of tenants’ organizations are active in the country. What is most interesting is that squatters’ and tenants’ activists are forming alliances, despite their obvious differences in their organizational models, social composition, along with the specific motives and goals of their activism. The objective of this article is to examine the relations between the tenants’ and squatting movements in Poland by studying two cities where both movements are established and closely cooperating. In particular we are interested in the transformative power of such cooperation and we assume that cooperation between social movements results in negotiations and transformations of the social movement actors involved. The empirical foundations for this article are 50 interviews, whereof 30 interviews conducted in Warsaw with squatters and tenants’ movement activists and 20 interviews conducted with activists in Poznań. Warsaw and Poznań are, moreover, two Polish cities where the squatting movement is most vibrant and where squatters and tenants have achieved some considerable successes in their activities. The article argues against previous studies emphasizing access to abundant resources and identity alignment as crucial for the mobilization of collective and collaborative action. Instead, it argues that the lack of resources might also be driving social movements towards cooperation, as a kind of compensation. Moreover, our cases demonstrate that ideology and identity alignment in social movements create stagnation with regard to openness towards new allies. We therefore argue that a high degree of identity alignment and ideological consistency might discourage the formation of new alliances.Institutionella begränsningar och kreativa lösninga