• Energy Research
• 1. No poverty close
• 3. Good health close
• NL close

Micropollutant removal in an algal treatment system fed with source separated wastewater streams was studied. Batch experiments with the microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana grown on urine, anaerobically treated black water and synthetic urine were performed to assess the removal of six spiked pharmaceuticals (diclofenac, ibuprofen, paracetamol, metoprolol, carbamazepine and trimethoprim). Additionally, incorporation of these pharmaceuticals and three estrogens (estrone, 17β-estradiol and ethinylestradiol) into algal biomass was studied. Biodegradation and photolysis led to 60-100% removal of diclofenac, ibuprofen, paracetamol and metoprolol. Removal of carbamazepine and trimethoprim was incomplete and did not exceed 30% and 60%, respectively. Sorption to algal biomass accounted for less than 20% of the micropollutant removal. Furthermore, the presence of micropollutants did not inhibit C. sorokiniana growth at applied concentrations. Algal treatment systems allow simultaneous removal of micropollutants and recovery of nutrients from source separated wastewater. Nutrient rich algal biomass can be harvested and applied as fertilizer in agriculture, as lower input of micropollutants to soil is achieved when algal biomass is applied as fertilizer instead of urine.

With this article we contribute to debates on urban land governance and sustainable urban development in Africa by providing an empirical analysis of forced displacement and resettlement associated with infrastructure development in Beira city, Mozambique. In recent years Beira has become the recipient of numerous investment flows targeting the built environment by a range of international investors. By analyzing the micropolitical engagements associated with three different infrastructure projects, based on extensive qualitative interviews, observations, and document analysis, we demonstrate how each intervention has been associated with highly informal and divergent processes of forced displacement and resettlement. We argue that these land related impacts have been annexed from debates on sustainable infrastructure development, and that they exhibit some fundamental differences from established resettlement research. We conclude by arguing that forced displacement and resettlement should be understood as a deliberate and systematic feature of urban infrastructure development, through which new social-spatial arrangements are created. This ultimately points to the emergence of a novel mode of fragmented urbanism within the context of urban development in Africa which poses new challenges to urban sustainability.

In efforts to mitigate climate change, energy systems are undergoing a profound transition towards low-carbon systems. This transition does not only involve changes in energy technologies but importantly it is shaped and incentivized by changes in the rules and regulations that govern energy markets. It is a normative transition, focused at achieving secure, affordable, and sustainable energy provision. In a multidisciplinary approach, this paper proposes a framework that highlights the role of normative principles - i.e. values - in socio-technical systems. Building on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, the analysis explicates how values relate to institutional change in the case of the energy transition.

Avec un marché mondial de 30 milliards de dollars, l'assurance agricole joue un rôle clé dans le financement des risques et contribue à l'adaptation au changement climatique en atteignant les objectifs de développement durable (ODD), y compris l'élimination de la pauvreté, la faim zéro et l'action climatique. Les preuves existantes dans l'assurance agricole sont dispersées entre les régions, les sujets et les risques, et une synthèse structurée n'est pas disponible. Pour combler cette lacune, nous avons effectué une revue systématique de 796 articles évalués par des pairs sur l'assurance agricole publiés entre 2000 et 2019. L'objectif de cette revue était double : (a) catégoriser la littérature sur l'assurance agricole par produit agricole assuré, thème de recherche, zone d'étude géographique, type d'assurance et dangers couverts, et (b) cartographier l'intensité de la recherche par pays de ces indicateurs par rapport aux risques historiques et projetés et aux événements de crise - catastrophes météorologiques extrêmes, augmentation prévue de la température dans le scénario SSP5 (Voies socio-économiques partagées) et épidémies de bétail. Nous constatons que la recherche en assurance est axée sur les pays à revenu élevé tandis que les cultures sont le produit agricole assuré dominant (33 % des articles). Les grands producteurs dans les systèmes de production comme les fruits et légumes (Amérique du Sud), le mil (Afrique) et la pêche et l'aquaculture (Asie du Sud-Est) ne sont pas abordés dans la littérature. La recherche sur l'assurance-récolte a lieu là où les catastrophes météorologiques extrêmes historiques sont fréquentes (coefficient de corrélation de 0,75), alors que nous trouvons une corrélation étonnamment faible entre les augmentations de température induites par le changement climatique à l'avenir et la recherche actuelle sur l'assurance-récolte, même lors du sous-ensemble pour les articles sur le thème de recherche du changement climatique et de l'assurance (-0,04). Il existe également peu de données probantes sur le rôle de l'assurance dans la mise à l'échelle des mesures d'adaptation et d'atténuation pour réduire les risques liés à l'agriculture. En outre, nous constatons que la zone d'étude des papiers d'assurance du bétail est faiblement corrélée à la survenue d'épidémies de bétail dans le passé (-0,06) et fortement corrélée à la fréquence historique de la sécheresse (-0,51). Pour que l'assurance joue son rôle pertinent dans l'adaptation au changement climatique tel que décrit dans les ODD, nous recommandons aux gouvernements, aux compagnies d'assurance et aux chercheurs de mieux s'intéresser aux domaines à risque et d'inclure de nouveaux développements dans l'agriculture qui nécessiteront des investissements importants et, par conséquent, l'assurabilité, dans les années à venir. Con un mercado global de 30 mil millones de dólares, los seguros agrícolas desempeñan un papel clave en la financiación de riesgos y contribuyen a la adaptación al cambio climático al lograr los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), que incluyen la erradicación de la pobreza, el hambre cero y la acción climática. La evidencia existente en los seguros agrícolas está dispersa en regiones, temas y riesgos, y no se dispone de una síntesis estructurada. Para abordar esta brecha, realizamos una revisión sistemática de 796 artículos revisados por pares sobre seguros agrícolas publicados entre 2000 y 2019. El objetivo de esta revisión fue doble: (a) categorizar la literatura de seguros agrícolas por producto agrícola asegurado, tema de investigación, área de estudio geográfica, tipo de seguro y peligros cubiertos, y (b) mapear la intensidad de investigación a nivel de país de estos indicadores con respecto a los eventos de riesgo y crisis históricos y proyectados: desastres climáticos extremos, aumento de temperatura proyectado en el escenario SSP5 (Vías socioeconómicas compartidas) y epidemias ganaderas. Encontramos que la investigación de seguros se centra en los países de altos ingresos, mientras que los cultivos son el producto agrícola asegurado dominante (33% de los documentos). Los grandes productores en sistemas de producción como frutas y verduras (América del Sur), mijo (África) y pesca y acuicultura (sudeste asiático) no se centran en la literatura. La investigación sobre el seguro de cosechas se está llevando a cabo donde los desastres climáticos extremos históricos son frecuentes (coeficiente de correlación de 0,75), mientras que encontramos una correlación sorprendentemente baja entre los aumentos de temperatura inducidos por el cambio climático en el futuro y la investigación actual sobre el seguro de cosechas, incluso cuando se trata de artículos sobre el tema de investigación del cambio climático y los seguros (-0,04). También hay evidencia limitada sobre el papel de los seguros para escalar las medidas de adaptación y mitigación para reducir el riesgo de la agricultura. Además, encontramos que el área de estudio de los documentos de seguro de ganado está débilmente correlacionada con la aparición de epidemias de ganado en el pasado (-0,06) y altamente correlacionada con la frecuencia histórica de sequía (.51). Para que los seguros desempeñen su papel relevante en la adaptación al cambio climático como se describe en los ODS, recomendamos a los gobiernos, las compañías de seguros y los investigadores que ajusten mejor su interés a las áreas propensas al riesgo e incluyan desarrollos novedosos en la agricultura que requerirán grandes inversiones y, por lo tanto, asegurabilidad, en los próximos años. With a global market of 30 billion USD, agricultural insurance plays a key role in risk finance and contributes to climate change adaptation by achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including no poverty, zero hunger, and climate action. The existing evidence in agricultural insurance is scattered across regions, topics and risks, and a structured synthesis is unavailable. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review of 796 peer-reviewed papers on agricultural insurance published between 2000 and 2019. The goal of this review was twofold: (a) categorizing agricultural insurance literature by agricultural product insured, research theme, geographical study area, insurance type and hazards covered, and (b) mapping country-wise research intensity of these indicators vis-à-vis historical and projected risk and crisis events—extreme weather disasters, projected temperature increase under SSP5 (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways) scenario and livestock epidemics. We find that insurance research is focused on high-income countries while crops are the dominating agricultural product insured (33% of the papers). Large producers in production systems like fruits and vegetables (South America), millets (Africa) and fisheries and aquaculture (South-east Asia) are not focused upon in the literature. Research on crop insurance is taking place where historical extreme weather disasters are frequent (correlation coefficient of 0.75), while we find a surprisingly low correlation between climate change induced temperature increases in the future and current research on crop insurance, even when sub-setting for papers on the research theme of climate change and insurance (−.04). There is also limited evidence on the role of insurance to scale adaptation and mitigation measures to de-risk farming. Further, we find that the study area of livestock insurance papers is weakly correlated to the occurrence of livestock epidemics in the past (−.06) and highly correlated to the historical drought frequency (.51). For insurance to play its relevant role in climate change adaptation as described in the SDGs, we recommend governments, insurance companies and researchers to better tune their interest to risk-prone areas and include novel developments in agriculture which will require major investments, and, hence, insurability, in the coming years. مع وجود سوق عالمية تبلغ قيمتها 30 مليار دولار أمريكي، يلعب التأمين الزراعي دورًا رئيسيًا في تمويل المخاطر ويسهم في التكيف مع تغير المناخ من خلال تحقيق أهداف التنمية المستدامة (SDGs) بما في ذلك القضاء على الفقر والقضاء على الجوع والعمل المناخي. تنتشر الأدلة الموجودة في التأمين الزراعي عبر المناطق والموضوعات والمخاطر، ولا يتوفر توليف منظم. لمعالجة هذه الفجوة، أجرينا مراجعة منهجية لـ 796 ورقة بحثية تمت مراجعتها من قبل الأقران حول التأمين الزراعي نُشرت بين عامي 2000 و 2019. كان الهدف من هذه المراجعة ذو شقين: (أ) تصنيف أدبيات التأمين الزراعي حسب المنتج الزراعي المؤمن عليه، وموضوع البحث، ومنطقة الدراسة الجغرافية، ونوع التأمين والمخاطر المغطاة، و (ب) تحديد كثافة البحث على المستوى القطري لهذه المؤشرات مقابل أحداث المخاطر والأزمات التاريخية والمتوقعة - كوارث الطقس المتطرفة، والزيادة المتوقعة في درجة الحرارة بموجب سيناريو SSP5 (المسارات الاجتماعية والاقتصادية المشتركة) وأوبئة الماشية. نجد أن أبحاث التأمين تركز على البلدان ذات الدخل المرتفع في حين أن المحاصيل هي المنتج الزراعي المهيمن المؤمن عليه (33 ٪ من الأوراق). لا يركز الأدب على كبار المنتجين في أنظمة الإنتاج مثل الفواكه والخضروات (أمريكا الجنوبية)، والدخن (أفريقيا) ومصائد الأسماك وتربية الأحياء المائية (جنوب شرق آسيا). تجري الأبحاث حول التأمين على المحاصيل حيث تتكرر كوارث الطقس المتطرفة التاريخية (معامل الارتباط 0.75)، بينما نجد ارتباطًا منخفضًا بشكل مدهش بين الزيادات في درجات الحرارة الناجمة عن تغير المناخ في المستقبل والبحوث الحالية حول التأمين على المحاصيل، حتى عند الإعداد الفرعي للأوراق البحثية حول موضوع البحث حول تغير المناخ والتأمين (-04). هناك أيضًا أدلة محدودة على دور التأمين في توسيع نطاق تدابير التكيف والتخفيف للحد من مخاطر الزراعة. علاوة على ذلك، نجد أن منطقة دراسة أوراق التأمين على الثروة الحيوانية ترتبط ارتباطًا ضعيفًا بحدوث أوبئة الماشية في الماضي (-0.06) وترتبط ارتباطًا وثيقًا بتواتر الجفاف التاريخي (0.51). لكي يلعب التأمين دوره ذي الصلة في التكيف مع تغير المناخ كما هو موضح في أهداف التنمية المستدامة، نوصي الحكومات وشركات التأمين والباحثين بضبط اهتمامهم بشكل أفضل بالمناطق المعرضة للمخاطر وإدراج تطورات جديدة في الزراعة والتي ستتطلب استثمارات كبيرة، وبالتالي قابلية التأمين، في السنوات القادمة.

Signals relayed through G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) play pivotal roles in human physiology and are important drug targets. About 40% of all GPCRs couple to the heterotrimeric G protein Gq. Biochemical studies as well as crystallography have improved our understanding of GqPCRs and their downstream partners. Here we focus on the "functional imaging" tools that have been developed to visualize, dissect and quantify signalling processes at the single living cell level. We provide an overview of the most important developments in readout of signalling by FRET and BRET, as well as of the labelling strategies commonly used to visualize proteins in living cells. In addition, tools that allow manipulation of individual steps, including chemically inducible dimerization and optogenetic tools are covered. Together, these developments will provide unprecedented insights in GqPCR signalling in living cells and model organisms.

Climate change policies are prepared in a power-loaded environment, where different policy actors interact to meet their personal or collective interests. This paper argues that the ‘power interplay’ between actors plays a significant role in shaping and re-shaping climate change policies. We present examples from South Asia (Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan) to show how actors’ power interplay at the local, sub-national, national and transboundary levels influences climate change policy-making. We show that negative effects of power interplay are prominent in the climate policy domain of South Asia, including short-termism of local adaptation plans, exclusion of certain policy actors in the policy-making processes, lack of transboundary-level adaptation, and lack of coordination between actors. Nuances also exist, such as the state's authority in prioritizing technical solutions, exclusionary design and implementation of climate policies, and an agenda of securitization; these can further marginalize the actors involved in climate change policy processes. The negative effects of power interplay in South Asia can limit the success of on-the-ground implementation of adaptation and mitigation strategies, limit adaptive capacity among communities, and possibly counter the development of a strong climate change solutions space. Lastly, we argue that there are no silver bullet solutions to power asymmetries and appeal to policy actors – in South Asia and elsewhere – to design context-specific and power-sensitive policy-making approaches. Negative effects of power interplay have led to the exclusion of certain policy actors (especially communities at risk) in policy-making processes and a lack of transboundary-level adaptation in South Asia. Hard infrastructure-based adaptation measures tend to exacerbate the vulnerability of the communities at risk in South Asia. Policy actors must design context-specific and power-sensitive policy-making climate adaptation and mitigation approaches to reduce the negative impacts of power interplay.

AbstractBackground and AimsABC‐training is a new intervention to encourage health behavior change that targets the automatic activation of adaptive beliefs (i.e. automatic inferences). The aim of this proof‐of‐principle study was to test the effectiveness of web‐based ABC‐training to change outcome expectancies of alcohol drinking in a sample of hazardous drinkers.DesignOne exploratory and one confirmatory experiment with two between‐subject conditions (online ABC‐ and control‐training) and assessments at baseline and 1 week later (after three sessions of training).SettingParticipants recruited on Prolific Academic completed the web‐based study.ParticipantsAdults with self‐reported hazardous alcohol drinking (Experiment 1: 193 adults, United Kingdom, age mean = 46.7 years; Experiment 2: 282 adults, different nationalities, age mean = 38.3 years).Intervention and ComparatorABC‐training involved completing an online task that required choosing personally relevant alternative behaviors to drinking alcohol in personally relevant antecedent contexts to attain personally important outcomes. Comparator was control‐training, in which participants selected both the alternative behaviors and alcohol drinking an equal number of times. Training was completed at baseline, after 3 days and after 1 week.MeasurementsPrimary outcome was change in automatic and self‐reported (negative/positive) outcome expectancies of alcohol drinking from baseline to after 1 week. Secondary outcomes were change in weekly alcohol consumption, self‐efficacy, craving and motivation (and approach‐alcohol associations in Experiment 1). Moderators were baseline outcome scores, motivation, age and alcohol dependency.FindingsFindings of this study are as follows: stronger increase in negative outcome expectancies after ABC‐ than control‐training (Experiment 1: self‐report, 95% confidence interval of difference scores (CIdiff) = [0.04, Inf]; automatic, CIdiff = [0.01, Inf]; Experiment 2: self‐report, CIdiff = [0.16, Inf]; automatic, CIdiff = [0.002, Inf]). Stronger reduction in self‐reported positive outcome expectancies after ABC‐ than control‐training (Experiment 1: CIdiff = [−Inf, −0.01]; Experiment 2: CIdiff = [−Inf, −0.21]) but mixed findings on automatic positive outcome expectancies (Experiment 1: CIdiff = [−Inf, 0.02]; Experiment 2: CIdiff = [−Inf, −0.001]).ConclusionsABC‐training may change outcome expectancies of alcohol consumption, but testing of clinically relevant effects in other samples is warranted.