Quantifying the carbon footprint of coastal construction – a new tool HRCAT

UK and European regulation aimed at achieving a low carbon society is currently not being sufficiently backed up by tools for the quantification of construction-related carbon emissions. Recent UK Government findings have highlighted that the amount of carbon emitted by construction and maintenance of infrastructure is largely unknown and that consistent carbon accounting is needed (BIS, 2010). It is expected that carbon accounting will become a standard requirement for engineering option appraisal and for any investment justification (be it project specific or at a national scale). Coastal schemes are no exception. Existing tools such as the Environment Agency Carbon Calculator are useful for the UK river and coastal protection market but currently lack the breadth of data and functionality required for the wider range of coastal construction works and for overseas schemes. This paper explains the process of development of a new carbon accounting tool suitable for coastal construction schemes, illustrating its application on a real breakwater option appraisal

Car-Sharing Subscription Preferences and the Role of Incentives: The Case of Copenhagen, Munich, and Tel Aviv-Yafo

Car-sharing services provide short-term car access, contributing to sustainable urban mobility and generating positive societal and environmental impacts. Attraction and retention of members are essential for the profitability and survival of these services in cities. Yet, the relevance of a variety of possible business models’ features for car-sharing subscriptions is still under-explored. This study examines individuals’ preferences for subscribing to different car-sharing business models, focusing on the attractiveness of car-sharing-related features and incentives in different contexts. We designed a stated preference experiment and collected data from three different urban car-sharing settings: Copenhagen, Munich, and Tel Aviv-Yafo. A mixed logit model was estimated to uncover the determinants of each city’s car-sharing plan subscription. The achieved insights pave the road for the actual design of car-sharing business models and attractive incentives by car-sharing companies in the studied or similar cities. Our findings reveal that although some car-sharing intrinsic features are likely to be relevant everywhere (e.g., pricing, parking conditions), the local context affects the preferences of others. In Munich, respondents prefer car-sharing services with fleets composed of electric vehicles and value high accessibility to shared cars, so marketing campaigns focusing on the positive environmental impacts of car-sharing and strategic distribution of shared cars (e.g., hubs) are expected to be very appealing there. As for Copenhagen, a high probability of finding a car, the opportunity to book a shared car in advance, and having plans including other modes are more appreciated, making hubs in high-demand areas and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) plans very attractive. Finally, in Tel Aviv, our findings highlight the advantages of exploring different pricing schemes and offering dynamic incentives to users for fleet rebalancing to positively contribute to car-sharing subscriptions and ridership

Inter-relações solo-vegetação-regime de inundação na sub-região da Nhecolândia, Pantanal Sul Matogrossense.

RESUMO: As diferentes unidades de paisagem do Pantanal são fortemente influenciadas pela topografia local e pelos vários níveis de inundação, determinando assim, a ocorrência de uma diverficada vegetação. Este trabalho objetivou avaliar os atributos físicos e químicos do solo de diferentes unidades de paisagem do Pantanal, para melhor entender as inter-relações solo-vegetação-regime de inundação na região. Foram avaliadas unidades de paisagem, delimitadas através de levantamento planialtimétrico e agrupadas conforme à suscetibilidade à inundação, da seguinte forma: áreas livres de inundações (LI) - floresta semidecídua e cerradão; áreas sujeitas à inundações ocasionais (IO) - campo cerrado e campo limpo com predominância de Elyonurus muticus; áreas sujeitas à inundações periódicas (IP) - campo limpo com Axonopus purpusii e Andropogon spp, bordas de baías e vazantes e baixadas. O solo predominante em todas as unidades é Neossolo Quartzarênico, com caráter hidromórfico nas unidades IO e IP. As cotas altimétricas das unidades de paisagem foram relativamente baixas, denotando a possibilidade de diferentes níveis e duração de inundações na região. A exceção da floresta semidecídua, as demais unidades apresentaram fertilidade natural muito baixa. As áreas IO e IP se apresentaram mais suscetíveis à degradação dos atributos físicos, possivelmente, pelo maior pisoteio dos animais

Aligning users’ and stakeholders’ needs: How incentives can reshape the carsharing market

Carsharing services provide users with a new way of approaching mobility and accessing shared vehicles. Since the initial pilot studies in the early 90s, technological innovations (e.g., advances in mobile technology, increased range of electric cars) and the establishment of new business models (e.g, station–based, free–floating, peer-to-peer, packages by time and/or kilometers) helped branding carsharing as a sustainable yet flexible and personalized mobility alternative. On the other hand, the carsharing market today is extremely scattered, as it can include multiple operators, which are often in competition among each other. While this variety of operators provides the user with a variety of travel options, without proper coordination, this competition can reduce the efficiency of the carsharing market and, in extreme cases, of the entire transportation system. In this context, this paper studies the needs of travellers, local authorities, and carsharing service providers, and analyzes how incentives can be used to align their goals. Taking Munich, Copenhagen, and Tel Aviv-Yafo as case studies, focus groups were used to identify thirteen different travellers’ needs, which are grouped into five main categories: ownership issues, coverage area, financial aspects, vehicle settings, and integration of carsharing with other modes. Moreover, to understand the needs of service providers and public authorities, in-depth interviews were conducted. The results indicate that regulatory barriers, integration with other transport modes, and social equity issues are the most critical elements for the thriving of carsharing services. Our results also suggest that incentives can be divided into two main categories, namely direct and indirect incentives. With regards to direct incentives, parking stood out as the most important incentive. Among indirect incentives, those associated with the integration of carsharing with other transport services, were prominent. As part of the methodology, the results of the qualitative study are validated through a quantitative analysis. A bigger sample of the population answered an online survey, which was used to validate the list of potential incentives that can help aligning the goals of stakeholders and users

Alterações na matéria orgânica do solo pela conversão da floresta nativa em pastagem cultivada, Pantanal Sul Matogrossense.

RESUMO: Diante da baixa produtividade e qualidade das pastagens nativas, principal responsável pelos baixos índices zootécnicos da pecuária pantaneira, desmatamentos para a implantação de pastagens cultivadas tem-se intensificado na região. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as alterações nos teores de carbono total e associados às frações húmicas do solo pela conversão da floresta nativa em pastagem cultivada no Pantanal. Foram avaliados os teores de carbono total (C) e nas frações humina (HUM) e ácidos fúlvicos (AF) e húmicos (AH) de amostras de solo, nas profundidades de 0-10 cm e 10-20 cm, de áreas de floresta nativa e pastagens adjacentes de Brachiaria decumbens, com diferentes tempos de implantação, como se segue: floresta semidecídua (FS) e pastagem com 27 anos de implantação (PC27); cerradão (Ce1) e pastagem com 26 anos de implantação (PC26); cerradão (Ce2) e pastagem com 11 anos de implantação (PC11). Em todas as áreas houve domínio do C da fração HUM, com aproximadamente 60% do C total, seguido das frações AH, 20 a 30% e AF, inferior a 10%. A conversão da floresta nativa em pastagem cultivada promoveu redução nos teores de carbono total no solo e nas frações húmicas, com tendência à maiores reduções nas frações ácidos fúlvicos e húmicos

Glycolytic regulation of cell rearrangement in angiogenesis

During vessel sprouting, endothelial cells (ECs) dynamically rearrange positions in the sprout to compete for the tip position. We recently identified a key role for the glycolytic activator PFKFB3 in vessel sprouting by regulating cytoskeleton remodelling, migration and tip cell competitiveness. It is, however, unknown how glycolysis regulates EC rearrangement during vessel sprouting. Here we report that computational simulations, validated by experimentation, predict that glycolytic production of ATP drives EC rearrangement by promoting filopodia formation and reducing intercellular adhesion. Notably, the simulations correctly predicted that blocking PFKFB3 normalizes the disturbed EC rearrangement in high VEGF conditions, as occurs during pathological angiogenesis. This interdisciplinary study integrates EC metabolism in vessel sprouting, yielding mechanistic insight in the control of vessel sprouting by glycolysis, and suggesting anti-glycolytic therapy for vessel normalization in cancer and non-malignant diseases

Combinatorial targeting and discovery of ligand-receptors in organelles of mammalian cells

Phage display screening allows the study of functional protein–protein interactions at the cell surface, but investigating intracellular organelles remains a challenge. Here we introduce internalizing-phage libraries to identify clones that enter mammalian cells through a receptor-independent mechanism and target-specific organelles as a tool to select ligand peptides and identify their intracellular receptors. We demonstrate that penetratin, an antennapedia-derived peptide, can be displayed on the phage envelope and mediate receptor-independent uptake of internalizing phage into cells. We also show that an internalizing-phage construct displaying an established mitochondria-specific localization signal targets mitochondria, and that an internalizing-phage random peptide library selects for peptide motifs that localize to different intracellular compartments. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate that one such peptide, if chemically fused to penetratin, is internalized receptor-independently, localizes to mitochondria, and promotes cell death. This combinatorial platform technology has potential applications in cell biology and drug development

A multi-centre study of candidate genes for wheeze and allergy: the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood Phase 2

Background: Common polymorphisms have been identified in genes suspected to play a role in asthma. We investigated their associations with wheeze and allergy in a case-control sample from Phase 2 of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Methods: We compared 1105 wheezing and 3137 non-wheezing children aged 8-12 years from 17 study centres in 13 countries. Genotyping of 55 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 14 genes was performed using the Sequenom System. Logistic regression models were fitted separately for each centre and each SNP. A combined per allele odds ratio and measures of heterogeneity between centres were derived by random effects meta-analysis. Results: Significant associations with wheeze in the past year were detected in only four genes (IL4R, TLR4, MS4A2, TLR9, P<0.05), with per allele odds ratios generally <1.3. Variants in IL4R and TLR4 were also related to allergen-specific IgE, while polymorphisms in FCER1B (MS4A2) and TLR9 were not. There were also highly significant associations (P<0.001) between SPINK5 variants and visible eczema (but not IgE levels) and between IL13 variants and total IgE. Heterogeneity of effects across centres was rare, despite differences in allele frequencies. Conclusions: Despite the biological plausibility of IgE-related mechanisms in asthma, very few of the tested candidates showed evidence of association with both wheeze and increased IgE levels. We were unable to confirm associations of the positional candidates DPP10 and PHF11 with wheeze, although our study had ample power to detect the expected associations of IL13 variants with IgE and SPINK5 variants with eczema

Role of glutamine synthetase in angiogenesis beyond glutamine synthesis

Glutamine synthetase, encoded by the gene GLUL, is an enzyme that converts glutamate and ammonia to glutamine. It is expressed by endothelial cells, but surprisingly shows negligible glutamine-synthesizing activity in these cells at physiological glutamine levels. Here we show in mice that genetic deletion of Glul in endothelial cells impairs vessel sprouting during vascular development, whereas pharmacological blockade of glutamine synthetase suppresses angiogenesis in ocular and inflammatory skin disease while only minimally affecting healthy adult quiescent endothelial cells. This relies on the inhibition of endothelial cell migration but not proliferation. Mechanistically we show that in human umbilical vein endothelial cells GLUL knockdown reduces membrane localization and activation of the GTPase RHOJ while activating other Rho GTPases and Rho kinase, thereby inducing actin stress fibres and impeding endothelial cell motility. Inhibition of Rho kinase rescues the defect in endothelial cell migration that is induced by GLUL knockdown. Notably, glutamine synthetase palmitoylates itself and interacts with RHOJ to sustain RHOJ palmitoylation, membrane localization and activation. These findings reveal that, in addition to the known formation of glutamine, the enzyme glutamine synthetase shows unknown activity in endothelial cell migration during pathological angiogenesis through RHOJ palmitoylation