Effect analysis of transient scenarios for successful water management strategies

Recent scenario studies on water management focus on one or two projection years and the effects on the water system and functions. The future is however more complex and dynamic. Therefore, we analyse transient scenarios in order to evaluate the performance of water management strategies. Current available simulation tools are not suitable for this purpose. Therefore, we have developed and used a tool to simulate 50-100 year long time series and that is good and fast enough to simulate the effects of these scenarios and strategies on the water system and the interaction with the human system. We present the first step by means of a case study

Inaccuracy of routine susceptibility tests for detection of erythromycin resistance of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli

In The Netherlands, both an increase in and regional differences in erythromycin resistance of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli have been reported. To determine the accuracy of routine tests for erythromycin resistance, 48 erythromycin-resistant isolates from various laboratories that participate in the Dutch surveillance of Campylobacter infections were reinvestigated. Initial susceptibility testing for erythromycin had been performed by disk diffusion in six and MIC-based methods in two laboratories. Reinvestigation was carried out using broth microdilution as a reference standard, as well as E-test and genetic resistance testing. Of 36 C. jejuni isolates reported by the initial laboratories as erythromycin-resistant, four (11%) and five (14%) were confirmed as erythromycin-resistant using broth microdilution according to CLSI and EUCAST resistance criteria, respectively. Erythromycin resistance was found in eight of 12 (67%) C. coli isolates according to both criteria. Results of E-tests were in accordance with these results in all isolates. Resistance-associated mutations in the 23S rRNA gene (A2059G and A2058T) were found in all isolates showing high-level resistance, whereas none were found in susceptible isolates. Routine determination of the erythromycin resistance of C. jejuni and C. coli shows unacceptable interlaboratory variation. In the absence of standardized protocols and interpretive criteria for disk diffusion, and while we await the development of easily applicable and reliable methods for molecular resistance testing, the use of broth microdilution remains the best method

Explorations in the Anthropology of Religion

Indonesi

Future Thinking in Suicidal Patients: Development and evaluation of a Future Oriented Group Training in a randomized controlled trial

Kerkhof, A.J.F.M. [Promotor]Beekman, A.T.F. [Promotor

Comparison of cell-surface glycoproteins of rat hepatomas and embryonic rat liver.

Cell-surface glycoprotein of 3 rat hepatoma strains and late-embryonic liver was metabolically labelled in vivo with [3H]- or [14C]-fucose. Trypsinization of the cells and exhaustive pronase digestion of combined hepatoma-liver trypsinates followed by gel filtration over Sephadex-Biogel mixtures, yielded elution profiles that contained more early-eluting (high-mol.-wt.) glycopeptides for hepatomas than for liver. At least 3 factors were identified which acted to augment the fraction of early-eluting tumour glycopeptides: (a) increase of neuraminidase-sensitive sialic acid, (b) increase of neuraminidase-insensitive sialic acid that was sensitive to mild HCl hydrolysis, and (c) presence of sugar sulphate groups contributing to a restricted extent, relative to possible unknown factor(s). Whether (a), (b) or (c) operated depended on the hepatoma strain or its mode of growth. Notwithstanding these differences in the nature of the increase in early-eluting glycopeptides, the increase itself appears not to be due to growth per se, nor to an embryonic expression, but rather may serve as a marker of tumourigenicity

The Khwe of Namibia, foragers between game, tourism and politics

__Abstract__ In this paper we examine the plight of the Khwe Bushmen, a group of (former) hunter-gatherers in the Bwabwata National Park in Northern Namibia. The Khwe have lived for a long time in the area of Bwabwata, so are highly affected by the park’s conservation activities that altered their environment seriously. Although they were historically hardly involved in decision making on or the implementation of such activities, this was supposed to change with the rise of Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in the 1990s. Yet, many of its aims did not materialize and the approval of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) in 2011 aimed at increased conservation in the area. An important element in these plans is to boost ‘green economic’ growth by increasing tourism, also involving the Khwe Bushmen. As a theoretical starting point, we use Ingold’s dwelling perspective, based on hunter-gatherer ontologies, in which the world comes into being because an organism/person is continuously interacting with his/her environment, through bodily activity. Dwelling is contrasted with building, in which (wo)man constructs the world cognitively before (s)he can live in it. We apply a third notion, namely lodging, to refer to a situation in which people live in an essentially foreign environment. We argue that today many changes in the environment of the Khwe are triggered beyond their control, instead of through their interaction with their environment. In this concept, the environment is dominant and the people have no option but to adapt to changes in their environment outside their control. Using these three notions of dwelling, building and lodging we analyse various conservation and tourism developments in the environment of the Khwe, historically as well as more recently. In so doing, we show the transformation of the cultural understanding the people have of their environment, of their interaction with it (and with the various actors and stakeholders) and with each other