44 research outputs found

    Voicing Rivers through ontopoetics:A co-operative inquiry

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    A co-operative inquiry was established to explore the experience of a panpsychic world of sentient beings rather than inert objects, a world in which mind—sentience, subjectivity, and the will of self-realization—is a fundamental aspect of matter, just as matter is a fundamental aspect of mind. The nature of worldviews, the fundamental basis of our perceiving, thinking, valuing, and acting, is addressed and a brief outline of living cosmos panpsychism offered. The inquiry asks, could we humans, through intentional engagement, relate to the rivers as beings, subjects, or other-than-human persons in their own right? How might we engage with the rivers through personal relationship, ceremony, and invocation? What are the possibilities for reciprocal communication? In short, how might rivers speak?.</p

    Crystallization behaviour of glyceraldehyde dehydrogenase from Thermoplasma acidophilum

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    The glyceraldehyde dehydrogenase from Thermoplasma acidophilum (TaAlDH) is a microbial enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of D-glyceraldehyde to D-glycerate in the artificial enzyme cascade designed for the conversion of glucose to the organic solvents isobutanol and ethanol. Various mutants of TaAlDH were constructed by a random approach followed by site-directed and saturation mutagenesis in order to improve the properties of the enzyme that are essential for its functioning within the cascade. Two enzyme variants, wild-type TaAlDH (TaAlDHwt) and an F34M+S405N variant (TaAlDH F34M+S405N), were successfully crystallized. Crystals of TaAlDHwt belonged to the monoclinic space group P1211 with eight molecules per asymmetric unit and diffracted to a resolution of 1.95 Å. TaAlDH F34M+S405N crystallized in two different space groups: triclinic P1 with 16 molecules per asymmetric unit and monoclinic C121 with four molecules per asymmetric unit. These crystals diffracted to resolutions of 2.14 and 2.10 Å for the P1 and C121 crystals, respectively

    Bioelectrocatalytic Cofactor Regeneration Coupled to CO2 Fixation in a Redox-Active Hydrogel for Stereoselective C-C Bond Formation

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    The sustainable capture and conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) is key to achieving a circular carbon economy. Bioelectrocatalysis, which aims at using renewable energies to power the highly specific, direct transformation of CO2 into value added products, holds promise to achieve this goal. However, the functional integration of CO2 -fixing enzymes onto electrode materials for the electrosynthesis of stereochemically complex molecules remains to be demonstrated. Here, we show the electricity-driven regio- and stereoselective incorporation of CO2 into crotonyl-CoA by an NADPH-dependent enzymatic reductive carboxylation. Co-immobilization of a ferredoxin NADP(+) reductase and crotonyl-CoA carboxylase/reductase within a 2,2'-viologen-modified hydrogel enabled iterative NADPH recycling and stereoselective formation of (2S)-ethylmalonyl-CoA, a prospective intermediate towards multi-carbon products from CO2 , with 92+/-6 % faradaic efficiency and at a rate of 1.6+/-0.4 mumol cm(-2) h(-1) . This approach paves the way for realizing even more complex bioelectrocatalyic cascades in the future

    Spatial variation of flow characteristics in a subarctic meandering river in ice‐covered and open‐channel conditions: A 2D hydrodynamic modelling approach

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    To be able to understand year-round river channel evolution both at present and in the future, the spatial variation of the flow characteristics and their sediment transport capabilities under ice cover need to be detected. As the measurements done through cross-sectional drill holes cover only a small portion of the river channel area, the numerical simulations give insight into the wider spatial horizontal variation of the flow characteristics. Therefore, we simulate the ice-covered flow with a hydrodynamic two-dimensional (2D) model in a meandering subarctic river (Pulmanki River, Finland) in mid-winter conditions and compare them to the pre-winter open-channel low flow situation. Based on the simulations, which are calibrated with reference measurements, we aim to detect (1) how ice-covered mid-winter flow characteristics vary spatially and (2) the erosion and sedimentation potential of the ice-covered flow compared to open-channel conditions. The 2D hydrodynamic model replicated the observed flow characteristics in both open-channel and ice-covered conditions. During both seasons, the greatest erosional forces locate in the shallow sections. The narrow, freely flowing channel area found in mid-winter cause the main differences in the spatial flow variation between seasons. Despite the causes of the horizontal recirculating flow structures being similar in both seasons, the structures formed in different locations depended on whether the river was open or ice covered. The critical thresholds for particle entrainment are exceeded more often in open-channel conditions than during ice-covered flow. The results indicate spatially extensive sediment transport in open-channel conditions, but that the spatial variability and differences in depositional and erosional locations increase in ice-covered conditions. Asymmetrical bends and straight reaches erode throughout the year, whereas symmetrical, smaller bends mainly erode in open-channel conditions and are prone to deposition in winter. The long ice-covered season can greatly affect the annual morphology of the submerged channel
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