Translation Mechanisms in Socio-Technical Niches. A case study of Dutch river management

This paper makes three contributions to the field of transition research. First, it sheds light on how the concept of translation can contribute to a better understanding of agency in niche development. Second, it articulates how the local-global distinction in the Strategic Niche Management (SNM) approach relates to the levels in the Multi-Level Perspective. Third, the article is empirically novel by presenting a radical sustainable innovation in Dutch water management (‘New Rivers’).Sustainability transitions, translations, strategic niche management, river management

Performance of a GridPix detector based on the Timepix3 chip

A GridPix readout for a TPC based on the Timepix3 chip is developed for future applications at a linear collider. The GridPix detector consists of a gaseous drift volume read out by a single Timepix3 chip with an integrated amplification grid. Its performance is studied in a test beam with 2.5 GeV electrons. The GridPix detector detects single ionization electrons with high efficiency. The Timepix3 chip allowed for high sample rates and time walk corrections. Diffusion is found to be the dominating error on the track position measurement both in the pixel plane and in the drift direction, and systematic distortions in the pixel plane are below 10 $\mu$m. Using a truncated sum, an energy loss (dE/dx) resolution of 4.1% is found for an effective track length of 1 m.Comment: To be published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section

What Influences the Diffusion of Grassroots Innovations for Sustainability? Investigating Community Currency Niches

Community action for sustainability is a promising site of socio-technical innovation. Here we test the applicability of co-evolutionary niche theories of innovation diffusion (Strategic Niche Management, SNM) to the context of ‘grassroots innovations’. We present new empirical findings from an international study of 12 community currency niches (such as LETS, time banks, local currencies). These are parallel systems of exchange, designed to operate alongside mainstream money, meeting additional sustainability needs. Our findings confirm SNM predictions that niche-level activity correlates with diffusion success, but we highlight additional or confounding factors, and how niche theories might be adapted to better fit civil-society innovations. In so doing, we develop a model of grassroots innovation niche diffusion which builds on existing work and tailors it to this specific context. The paper concludes with a series of theoretically-informed recommendations for practitioners and policymakers to support the development and potential of grassroots innovations

Inorganic carbon concentrating mechanisms in free-living and symbiotic dinoflagellates and chromerids

Photosynthetic dinoflagellates are ecologically and biogeochemically important in marine and freshwater environments. However, surprisingly little is known of how this group acquires inorganic carbon or how these diverse processes evolved. Consequently, how CO2 availability ultimately influences the success of dinoflagellates over space and time remains poorly resolved compared to other microalgal groups. Here we review the evidence. Photosynthetic core dinoflagellates have a Form II RuBisCO (replaced by Form IB or Form ID in derived dinoflagellates). The in vitro kinetics of the Form II RuBisCO from dinoflagellates are largely unknown, but dinoflagellates with Form II (and other) RuBisCOs have inorganic carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs), as indicated by in vivo internal inorganic C accumulation and affinity for external inorganic C. However, the location of the membrane(s) at which the essential active transport component(s) of the CCM occur(s) is (are) unresolved; isolation and characterization of functionally competent chloroplasts would help in this respect. Endosymbiotic Symbiodiniaceae (in Foraminifera, Acantharia, Radiolaria, Ciliata, Porifera, Acoela, Cnidaria, and Mollusca) obtain inorganic C by transport from seawater through host tissue. In corals this transport apparently provides an inorganic C concentration around the photobiont that obviates the need for photobiont CCM. This is not the case for tridacnid bivalves, medusae, or, possibly, Foraminifera. Overcoming these long-standing knowledge gaps relies on technical advances (e.g., the in vitro kinetics of Form II RuBisCO) that can functionally track the fate of inorganic C forms

An AC susceptometer for the characterization of large, bulk superconducting samples

The main purpose of this work was to design, develop and construct a simple, low-cost AC susceptometer to measure large, bulk superconducting samples (up to 32 mm in diameter) in the temperature range 78-120 K. The design incorporates a double heating system that enables a high heating rate (25 K/hour) while maintaining a small temperature gradient (< 0.2 K) across the sample. The apparatus can be calibrated precisely using a copper coil connected in series with the primary coil. The system has been used successfully to measure the temperature dependence of the AC magnetic properties of entire RE-Ba-Cu-O [(RE)BCO] bulk superconducting domains. A typical AC susceptibility measurement run from 78 K to 95 K takes about 2 hours, with excellent temperature resolution (temperature step ~ 4 mK) around the critical temperature, in particular.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Measurement Science and Technolog

Language control and parallel recovery of language in individuals with aphasia

Background: The causal basis of the different patterns of language recovery following stroke in bilingual speakers is not well understood. Our approach distinguishes the representation of language from the mechanisms involved in its control. Previous studies have suggested that difficulties in language control can explain selective aphasia in one language as well as pathological switching between languages. Here we test the hypothesis that difficulties in managing and resolving competition will also be observed in those who are equally impaired in both their languages even in the absence of pathological switching. Aims: To examine difficulties in language control in bilingual individuals with parallel recovery in aphasia and to compare their performance on different types of conflict task. Methods & procedures: Two right-handed, non-native English-speaking participants who showed parallel recovery of two languages after stroke and a group of non-native English-speaking, bilingual controls described a scene in English and in their first language and completed three explicit conflict tasks. Two of these were verbal conflict tasks: a lexical decision task in English, in which individuals distinguished English words from non-words, and a Stroop task, in English and in their first language. The third conflict task was a non-verbal flanker task. Outcomes & Results: Both participants with aphasia were impaired in the picture description task in English and in their first language but showed different patterns of impairment on the conflict tasks. For the participant with left subcortical damage, conflict was abnormally high during the verbal tasks (lexical decision and Stroop) but not during the non-verbal flanker task. In contrast, for the participant with extensive left parietal damage, conflict was less abnormal during the Stroop task than the flanker or lexical decision task. Conclusions: Our data reveal two distinct control impairments associated with parallel recovery. We stress the need to explore the precise nature of control problems and how control is implemented in order to develop fuller causal accounts of language recovery patterns in bilingual aphasia

Regression, developmental trajectory and associated problems in disorders in the autism spectrum: the SNAP study

We report rates of regression and associated findings in a population derived group of 255 children aged 9-14 years, participating in a prevalence study of autism spectrum disorders (ASD); 53 with narrowly defined autism, 105 with broader ASD and 97 with non-ASD neurodevelopmental problems, drawn from those with special educational needs within a population of 56,946 children. Language regression was reported in 30% with narrowly defined autism, 8% with broader ASD and less than 3% with developmental problems without ASD. A smaller group of children were identified who underwent a less clear setback. Regression was associated with higher rates of autistic symptoms and a deviation in developmental trajectory. Regression was not associated with epilepsy or gastrointestinal problems

Longitudinal genomic surveillance of MRSA in the UK reveals transmission patterns in hospitals and the community

Genome sequencing has provided snapshots of the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) during suspected outbreaks in isolated hospital wards. Scale-up to populations is now required to establish the full potential of this technology for surveillance. We prospectively identified all individuals over a 12-month period who had at least one MRSA-positive sample processed by a routine diagnostic microbiology laboratory in the East of England, which received samples from three hospitals and 75 general practitioner (GP) practices. We sequenced at least 1 MRSA isolate from 1465 individuals (2282 MRSA isolates) and recorded epidemiological data. An integrated epidemiological and phylogenetic analysis revealed 173 transmission clusters containing between 2 and 44 cases and involving 598 people (40.8%). Of these, 118 clusters (371 people) involved hospital contacts alone, 27 clusters (72 people) involved community contacts alone, and 28 clusters (157 people) had both types of contact. Community- and hospital-associated MRSA lineages were equally capable of transmission in the community, with instances of spread in households, long-term care facilities, and GP practices. Our study provides a comprehensive picture of MRSA transmission in a sampled population of 1465 people and suggests the need to review existing infection control policy and practice.This work was supported by grants from the UK Clinical Research Collaboration Translational Infection Research Initiative and the Medical Research Council (grant no. G1000803) with contributions to the grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on behalf of the Department of Health, and the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorate (to S.J.P.); by a Hospital Infection Society Major Research Grant; by Wellcome Trust grant no. 098051 awarded to the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; and by Wellcome Trust 201344/Z/16/Z awarded to F.C. M.S.T. is a Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD fellow. M.E.T. is a Clinician Scientist Fellow, supported by the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Health Foundation and by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centr

Acclimation, Adaptation, Traits and Trade-Offs in Plankton Functional Type Models: Reconciling Terminology for Biology and Modelling

We propose definitions in terminology to enhance ongoing collaborations between biologists and modellers on plankton ecology. Organism functional type should refer to commonality in ecology not biogeochemistry; the latter is largely an emergent property of the former, while alignment with ecology is also consistent with usage in terrestrial science. Adaptation should be confined, as in genetics, to consideration of species inter-generational change; most so-called adaptive plankton models are thus acclimative, modifying vital rates in response to stimuli. Trait trade-off approaches should ideally only be considered for describing intra-generational interactions; in applications between generations, and certainly between unrelated species, such concepts should be avoided. We suggest that systems biology approaches, through to complex adaptive/acclimative systems modelling, with explicit modelling of feedback processes (which we suggest should define mechanistic models), would provide realistic and flexible bases upon which to develop descriptions of functional type models

Trends in life satisfaction in European and North-American adolescents from 2002 to 2010 in over 30 countries

Publisher Copyright: © 2015 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.Background: Life satisfaction (LS) is an indicator which is widely used for assessing the perception of a child's feeling about his life. Methods: LS is assessed in Health Behaviour in School-aged Children via the Cantril ladder with 10 steps indicating the worst and best possible life. This range of values (0-10) was dichotomized into 'low' (0-5) vs. 'high' (6-10). Countries, age groups and genders were compared based on the odds ratio (OR) of declaring a higher LS in 2010 with respect to 2002. Results: Analyzing the difference between 2002 and 2010, six countries from Western Europe show decreasing LS: Austria, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and Greenland. In contrast, a group of Eastern European Countries, that is, Estonia, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine, show a significant increase in LS. Data on gender and age differences confirm the lower rating of LS in girls and a decreasing rating with age. Conclusion: The LS scale appears to be a tool capable of discriminating the level of wellbeing of adolescent population among countries.publishersversionPeer reviewe