Stakeholderoverzicht Droge Voeten 2050 : opbrengst van workshop stakeholderanalyse 4 juli 2011

In 2011 zijn de provincies Groningen, Drenthe en Friesland en de waterschappen Noorderzijlvest, Hunze & Aa’s en Wetterskip Fryslân gestart met een verkenning naar maatregelen tegen wateroverlast vanuit de boezemsystemen. De verwachte klimaatverandering, bodemdaling door gaswinning en de mogelijke verhoging van de veiligheidsnormen vormen de aanleiding voor de verkenning. De studie Droge Voeten 2050, initieel HOWA (Hoog-Water) 3 genoemd, volgt op de eerdere studies HOWA 1, HOWA 2 en de quickscan HOWA 3. In de projectperiode tot 2014 dienen de gevolgen van de drie genoemde ontwikkelingen op de boezemsystemen in kaart gebracht te zijn

The role of knowledge and power in climate change adaptation governance: a systematic literature review

The long-term character of climate change and the high costs of adaptation measures, in combination with their uncertain effects, turn climate adaptation governance into a torturous process. We systematically review the literature on climate adaptation governance to analyze the scholarly understanding of these complexities. Building on governance literature about long-term and complex policy problems, we develop a conceptual matrix based on the dimensions knowledge and power to systematically study the peer-reviewed literature on climate adaptation governance. We find that about a quarter of the reviewed journal articles do not address the knowledge or power dimension of the governance of climate change adaptation, about half of the articles discuss either the knowledge or the power dimension, and another quarter discuss both knowledge and power. The articles that do address both knowledge and power (1) conceptualize the governance of climate adaptation mainly as a complex system of regulatory frameworks and technical knowledge, (2) assume that regulatory systems can be easily adapted to new knowledge, (3) pay little attention to fluid or unorganized forms of power, e.g., negotiation, and knowledge, e.g., learning, and (4) largely neglect the interplay between the two. We argue that more research on this interplay is needed, and we discuss how puzzling and powering are a promising pair of concepts to study this

NLTE wind models of hot subdwarf stars

We calculate NLTE models of stellar winds of hot compact stars (central stars of planetary nebulae and subdwarf stars). The studied range of subdwarf parameters is selected to cover a large part of these stars. The models predict the wind hydrodynamical structure and provide mass-loss rates for different abundances. Our models show that CNO elements are important drivers of subdwarf winds, especially for low-luminosity stars. We study the effect of X-rays and instabilities on these winds. Due to the line-driven wind instability, a significant part of the wind could be very hot.Comment: 7 pages, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Science. The final publication will be available at springerlink.com

The interplay of meaning and power in the science-policy-society triangle: powering, puzzling and co-producing climate change adaptation

Decision-making in relation to climate change is knowledge-intensive. Without systematic observations and advanced mathematical models, even awareness of climate change would be very limited. At the same time, important uncertainties about the nature and scale of risks and the effectiveness of solutions will persist. In addition, climate change is also a high-stake issue, affecting a range of sectors and policy domains. Taking climate change mitigation seriously requires drastically reconsidering current practice in domains like energy, transport, agriculture, housing etc. Depending on the severity and timing of climate impacts, more or less drastic adjustments will be needed in domains like water management, spatial planning, agriculture, tourism, nature etc

First Stars. II. Evolution with mass loss

The first stars are assumed to be predominantly massive. Although, due to the low initial abundances of heavy elements the line-driven stellar winds are supposed to be inefficient in the first stars, these stars may loose a significant amount of their initial mass by other mechanisms. In this work, we study the evolution with a prescribed mass loss rate of very massive, galactic and pregalactic, Population III stars, with initial metallicities $Z=10^{-6}$ and $Z=10^{-9}$, respectively, and initial masses 100, 120, 150, 200, and 250$\,M_{\odot}$ during the hydrogen and helium burning phases. The evolution of these stars depends on their initial mass, metallicity and the mass loss rate. Low metallicity stars are hotter, compact and luminous, and they are shifted to the blue upper part in the Hertzprung-Russell diagram. With mass loss these stars provide an efficient mixing of nucleosynthetic products, and depending on the He-core mass their final fate could be either pair-instability supernovae or energetic hypernovae. These stars contributed to the reionization of the universe and its enrichment with heavy elements, which influences the subsequent star formation properties.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science. 15 pages, 18 figure

The governance of adaptation to climate change : a collaborative action research programme to develop and test legitimate, effective and resilient governance arrangements for climate adaptation : midterm review

The Knowledge for Climate, Governance of Adaptation programme aims to integrate existing knowledge from the fields of public administration, economics, political science, spatial planning, law, environmental studies and psychology. Through close cooperation with hotspots, this programme will add new empirical evidence to test innovative theoretical propositions about the governance of climate adaptation. How this is done in the past two years, and what our plans are for the coming two years, is described in this report

The articulation of integration of clinical and basic sciences in concept maps: differences between experienced and resident groups

Teaching and Teacher Learning (ICLON

Thermal radiation processes

We discuss the different physical processes that are important to understand the thermal X-ray emission and absorption spectra of the diffuse gas in clusters of galaxies and the warm-hot intergalactic medium. The ionisation balance, line and continuum emission and absorption properties are reviewed and several practical examples are given that illustrate the most important diagnostic features in the X-ray spectra.Comment: 37 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews, special issue "Clusters of galaxies: beyond the thermal view", Editor J.S. Kaastra, Chapter 9; work done by an international team at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, organised by J.S. Kaastra, A.M. Bykov, S. Schindler & J.A.M. Bleeke

23 Questions of fluency in Australian languages revitalisation

Changes in endothelial glycocalyx are one of the earliest changes in development of cardiovascular disease. The endothelial glycocalyx is both an important biological modifier of interactions between flowing blood and the vessel wall, and a determinant of organ perfusion. We hypothesize that deeper penetration of erythrocytes into the glycocalyx is associated with reduced microvascular perfusion. The population-based prospective cohort study (the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity [NEO] study) includes 6,673 middle-aged individuals (oversampling of overweight and obese individuals). Within this cohort, we have imaged the sublingual microvasculature of 915 participants using sidestream darkfield (SDF) imaging together with a recently developed automated acquisition and analysis approach. Presence of RBC (as a marker of microvascular perfusion) and perfused boundary region (PBR), a marker for endothelial glycocalyx barrier properties for RBC accessibility, were assessed in vessels between 5 and 25 µm RBC column width. A wide range of variability in PBR measurements, with a mean PBR of 2.14 µm (range: 1.43-2.86 µm), was observed. Linear regression analysis showed a marked association between PBR and microvascular perfusion, reflected by RBC filling percentage (regression coefficient β: -0.034; 95% confidence interval: -0.037 to -0.031). We conclude that microvascular beds with a thick ("healthy") glycocalyx (low PBR), reflects efficient perfusion of the microvascular bed. In contrast, a thin ("risk") glycocalyx (high PBR) is associated with a less efficient and defective microvascular perfusion

Impact of percutaneous coronary intervention timing on 5-year outcome in patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes. The ‘wait a day’ approach might be safer

Background The OPTIMA trial was a randomised multicentre trial exploring the influence of the timing of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on patient outcomes in an intermediate to high risk non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) population. In order to decide the best treatment strategy for patients presenting with NSTEACS, long-term outcomes are essential. Methods Five-year follow-up data from 133 of the 142 patients could be retrieved (94 %). The primary endpoint was a composite of death and spontaneous myocardial infarction (MI). Spontaneous MI was defined as MI occurring more than 30 days after randomisation. Secondary endpoints were the individual outcomes of death, spontaneous MI or re-PCI. Results No significant difference with respect to the primary endpoint was observed (17.8 vs. 10.1 %; HR 1.55, 95 % CI: 0.73–4.22, p = 0.21). There was no significant difference in mortality rate. However, spontaneous MI was significantly more common in the group receiving immediate PCI (11.0 vs. 1.4 %; HR 4.46, 95 % CI: 1.21–16.50, p = 0.02). We did not find a significant difference between the groups with respect to re-PCI rate. Conclusion There was no difference in the composite of death and spontaneous MI. The trial suggests an increased long-term risk of spontaneous MI for patients treated with immediate PCI