Making 'dirty' nations look clean? The nation state and the problem of selecting and weighting indices as tools for measuring progress towards sustainability

Pressing global environmental problems highlight the need to develop tools to measure progress towards "sustainability." However, some argue that any such attempt inevitably reflects the views of those creating such tools and only produce highly contested notions of "reality." To explore this tension, we critically assesses the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), a well-publicized product of the World Economic Forum that is designed to measure 'sustainability' by ranking nations on league tables based on extensive databases of environmental indicators. By recreating this index, and then using statistical tools (principal components analysis) to test relations between various components of the index, we challenge ways in which countries are ranked in the ESI. Based on this analysis, we suggest (1) that the approach taken to aggregate, interpret and present the ESI creates a misleading impression that Western countries are more sustainable than the developing world; (2) that unaccounted methodological biases allowed the authors of the ESI to over-generalize the relative 'sustainability' of different countries; and, (3) that this has resulted in simplistic conclusions on the relation between economic growth and environmental sustainability. This criticism should not be interpreted as a call for the abandonment of efforts to create standardized comparable data. Instead, this paper proposes that indicator selection and data collection should draw on a range of voices, including local stakeholders as well as international experts. We also propose that aggregating data into final league ranking tables is too prone to error and creates the illusion of absolute and categorical interpretations. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plant species and functional group effects on abiotic and microbial soil properties and plant-soil feedback responses in two grasslands

1 Plant species differ in their capacity to influence soil organic matter, soil nutrient availability and the composition of soil microbial communities. Their influences on soil properties result in net positive or negative feedback effects, which influence plant performance and plant community composition. 2 For two grassland systems, one on a sandy soil in the Netherlands and one on a chalk soil in the United Kingdom, we investigated how individual plant species grown in monocultures changed abiotic and biotic soil conditions. Then, we determined feedback effects of these soils to plants of the same or different species. Feedback effects were analysed at the level of plant species and plant taxonomic groups (grasses vs. forbs). 3 In the sandy soils, plant species differed in their effects on soil chemical properties, in particular potassium levels, but PLFA (phospholipid fatty acid) signatures of the soil microbial community did not differ between plant species. The effects of soil chemical properties were even greater when grasses and forbs were compared, especially because potassium levels were lower in grass monocultures. 4 In the chalk soil, there were no effects of plant species on soil chemical properties, but PLFA profiles differed significantly between soils from different monocultures. PLFA profiles differed between species, rather than between grasses and forbs. 5 In the feedback experiment, all plant species in sandy soils grew less vigorously in soils conditioned by grasses than in soils conditioned by forbs. These effects correlated significantly with soil chemical properties. None of the seven plant species showed significant differences between performance in soil conditioned by the same vs. other plant species. 6 In the chalk soil, Sanguisorba minor and in particular Briza media performed best in soil collected from conspecifics, while Bromus erectus performed best in soil from heterospecifics. There was no distinctive pattern between soils collected from forb and grass monocultures, and plant performance could not be related to soil chemical properties or PLFA signatures. 7 Our study shows that mechanisms of plant-soil feedback can depend on plant species, plant taxonomic (or functional) groups and site-specific differences in abiotic and biotic soil properties. Understanding how plant species can influence their rhizosphere, and how other plant species respond to these changes, will greatly enhance our understanding of the functioning and stability of ecosystems.

Can arable field margins be managed to enhance their biodiversity, conservation and functional value for soil macrofauna?

1. The establishment of grassy strips at the margins of arable fields is an agri-environment scheme that aims to provide resources for native flora and fauna and thus increase farmland biodiversity. These margins can be managed to target certain groups, such as farmland birds and pollinators, but the impact of such management on the soil fauna has been poorly studied. This study assessed the effect of seed mix and management on the biodiversity, conservation and functional value of field margins for soil macrofauna. 2. Experimental margin plots were established in 2001 in a winter wheat field in Cambridgeshire, UK, using a factorial design of three seed mixes and three management practices [spring cut, herbicide application and soil disturbance (scarification)]. In spring and autumn 2005, soil cores taken from the margin plots and the crop were hand-sorted for soil macrofauna. The Lumbricidae, Isopoda, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Carabidae and Staphylinidae were identified to species and classified according to feeding type. 3. Diversity in the field margins was generally higher than in the crop, with the Lumbricidae, Isopoda and Coleoptera having significantly more species and/or higher abundances in the margins. Within the margins, management had a significant effect on the soil macrofauna, with scarified plots containing lower abundances and fewer species of Isopods. The species composition of the scarified plots was similar to that of the crop. 4. Scarification also reduced soil- and litter-feeder abundances and predator species densities, although populations appeared to recover by the autumn, probably as a result of dispersal from neighbouring plots and boundary features. The implications of the responses of these feeding groups for ecosystem services are discussed. 5. Synthesis and applications. This study shows that the management of agri-environment schemes can significantly influence their value for soil macrofauna. In order to encourage the litter-dwelling invertebrates that tend to be missing from arable systems, agri-environment schemes should aim to minimize soil cultivation and develop a substantial surface litter layer. However, this may conflict with other aims of these schemes, such as enhancing floristic and pollinator diversity.

Proteomic analysis of resting and thrombin-stimulated platelets reveals the translocation and functional relevance of HIP-55 in platelets

The platelet surface is a dynamic interface that changes rapidly in response to stimuli to coordinate the formation of thrombi at sites of vascular injury. Tight control is essential as loss of organisation may result in the inappropriate formation of thrombi (thrombosis) or excessive bleeding. In this paper we describe the comparative analysis of resting and thrombin-stimulated platelet membrane proteomes and associated proteins to identify proteins important to platelet function. Surface proteins were labelled using a biotin tag and isolated by NeurtrAvidin affinity chromatography. Liquid phase IEF and SDS-PAGE were used to separate proteins, and bands of increased intensity in the stimulated platelet fractions were digested and identified by FT-ICR mass spectrometry. Novel proteins were identified along with proteins known to be translocated to the platelet surface. Furthermore, many platelet proteins revealed changes in location associated with function, including G6B and Hip-55. HIP-55 is an SH3-binding protein important in T-cell receptor signalling. Further analysis of HIP-55 revealed that this adaptor protein becomes increasingly associated with both Syk and integrin beta 3 upon platelet activation. Analysis of HIP-55 deficient platelets revealed reduced fibrinogen binding upon thrombin stimulation, suggesting HIP-55 to be an important regulator of platelet function.

Architect and user interaction: The spoken representation of form and functional meaning

The paper is an investigation of the exchange of ideas and information between an architect and building users in the early stages of the building design process before the design brief or any drawings have been produced. The purpose of the research is to gain insight into the type of information users exchange with architects in early design conversations and to better understand the influence the format of design interactions and interactional behaviours have on the exchange of information. We report an empirical study of pre-briefing conversations in which the overwhelming majority of the exchanges were about the functional or structural attributes of space, discussion that touched on the phenomenological, perceptual and the symbolic meanings of space were rare. We explore the contextual features of meetings and the conversational strategies taken by the architect to prompt the users for information and the influence these had on the information provided. Recommendations are made on the format and structure of pre-briefing conversations and on designers' strategies for raising the level of information provided by the user beyond the functional or structural attributes of space.

Diet, immunity and functional foods

Functional foods (specific nutrient and/or food components) should beneficially affect one or more target functions in the body. The use of functional foods as a form of preventive medicine has been the subject of much research over the last two decades. It is well known that nutrition plays a vital role in chronic diseases, but it is only recently that data relating to the effects of specific nutrients or foods on the immune system have become available. This chapter aims to summarize the effects of some functional foods (e.g., prebiotics and micronutrients) on the immune system. It should be noted, however, that studies into the role of functional foods with regard to the human immune system are still in their infancy and a great deal of controversy surrounds the health claims attributed to some functional foods. Consequently, thorough studies are required in human and animal systems if we are to move towards developing a functional diet that provides maximal health benefits.

The psychological, neurochemical and functional neuroanatomical mediators of the effects of positive and negative mood on executive functions

In this review we evaluate the cognitive and neural effects of positive and negative mood on executive function. Mild manipulations of negative mood appear to have little effect on cognitive control processes, whereas positive mood impairs aspects of updating, planning and switching. These cognitive effects may be linked to neurochemistry: with positive mood effects mediated by dopamine while negative mood effects may be mediated by serotonin levels. Current evidence on the effects of mood on regional brain activity during executive functions, indicates that the prefrontal cortex is a recurrent site of integration between mood and cognition. We conclude that there is a disparity between the importance of this topic and awareness of how mood affects, executive functions in the brain. Most behavioural and neuroimaging studies of executive function in normal samples do not explore the potential role of variations in mood, yet the evidence we outline indicates that even mild fluctuations in mood can have a significant influence on neural activation and cognition. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Purification and functional characterisation of rhiminopeptidase A, a novel aminopeptidase from the venom of Bitis gabonica rhinoceros

This study describes the discovery and characterisation of a novel aminopeptidase A from the venom of B. g. rhinoceros and highlights its potential biological importance. Similar to mammalian aminopeptidases, rhiminopeptidase A might be capable of playing roles in altering the blood pressure and brain function of victims. Furthermore, it could have additional effects on the biological functions of other host proteins by cleaving their N-terminal amino acids. This study points towards the importance of complete analysis of individual components of snake venom in order to develop effective therapies for snake bites.

Purification and functional characterisation of Rhinocerase, a novel serine protease from the venom of Bitis gabonica rhinoceros

Background: Serine proteases are a major component of viper venoms and are thought to disrupt several distinct elements of the blood coagulation system of envenomed victims. A detailed understanding of the functions of these enzymes is important both for acquiring a fuller understanding of the pathology of envenoming and because these venom proteins have shown potential in treating blood coagulation disorders. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study a novel, highly abundant serine protease, which we have named rhinocerase, has been isolated and characterised from the venom of Bitis gabonica rhinoceros using liquid phase isoelectric focusing and gel filtration. Like many viper venom serine proteases, this enzyme is glycosylated; the estimated molecular mass of the native enzyme is approximately 36kDa, which reduces to 31kDa after deglycosylation. The partial amino acid sequence shows similarity to other viper venom serine proteases, but is clearly distinct from the sequence of the only other sequenced serine protease from Bitis gabonica. Other viper venom serine proteases have been shown to exert distinct biological effects, and our preliminary functional characterization of rhinocerase suggest it to be multifunctional. It is capable of degrading α and β chains of fibrinogen, dissolving plasma clots and of hydrolysing a kallikrein substrate. Conclusions/Significance: A novel multifunctional viper venom serine protease has been isolated and characterised. The activities of the enzyme are consistent with the known in vivo effects of Bitis gabonica envenoming, including bleeding disorders, clotting disorders and hypotension. This study will form the basis for future research to understand the mechanisms of serine protease action, and examine the potential for rhinocerase to be used clinically to reduce the risk of human haemostatic disorders such as heart attacks and strokes.

Proteogenomics and in silico structural and functional annotation of the barley powdery mildew Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei

Blumeria graminis is an economically important obligate plant-pathogenic fungus, whose entire genome was recently sequenced and manually annotated using ab initio in silico predictions [7]. Employing large scale proteogenomic analysis we are now able to verify independently the existence of proteins predicted by 24% of open reading frame models. We compared the haustoria and sporulating hyphae proteomes and identified 71 proteins exclusively in haustoria, the feeding and effector-delivery organs of the pathogen. These proteins are ‘significantly smaller than the rest of the protein pool and predicted to be secreted. Most do not share any similarities with Swiss–Prot or Trembl entries nor possess any identifiable Pfam domains. We used a novel automated prediction pipeline to model the 3D structures of the proteins, identify putative ligand binding sites and predict regions of intrinsic disorder. This revealed that the protein set found exclusively in haustoria is significantly less disordered than the rest of the identified Blumeria proteins or random (and representative) protein sets generated from the yeast proteome. For most of the haustorial proteins with unknown functions no good templates could be found, from which to generate high quality models. Thus, these unknown proteins present potentially new protein folds that can be specific to the interaction of the pathogen with its host.

Language dominance and lexical diversity: how bilinguals and L2 learners differ in their knowledge and use of French lexical and functional items

This chapter compares lexical diversity of French words used by Dutch-French bilinguals, English-French bilinguals and Flemish L2 learners of French.

Assessment of motor symptoms and functional impact in prodromal and early Huntington disease.

The Functional Rating Scale Taskforce for pre-Huntington Disease (FuRST-pHD) is a multinational, multidisciplinary initiative with the goal of developing a data-driven, comprehensive, psychometrically sound, rating scale for assessing symptoms and functional ability in prodromal and early Huntington disease (HD) gene expansion carriers. The process involves input from numerous sources to identify relevant symptom domains, including HD individuals, caregivers, and experts from a variety of fields, as well as knowledge gained from the analysis of data from ongoing large-scale studies in HD using existing clinical scales. This is an iterative process in which an ongoing series of field tests in prodromal (prHD) and early HD individuals provides the team with data on which to make decisions regarding which questions should undergo further development or testing and which should be excluded. We report here the development and assessment of the first iteration of interview questions aimed to assess functional impact of motor manifestations in prHD and early HD individuals.

Prediction and functional analysis of native disorder in proteins from the Three Kingdoms of Life

An automatic method for recognizing natively disordered regions from amino acid sequence is described and benchmarked against predictors that were assessed at the latest critical assessment of techniques for protein structure prediction (CASP) experiment. The method attains a Wilcoxon score of 90.0, which represents a statistically significant improvement on the methods evaluated on the same targets at CASP. The classifier, DISOPRED2, was used to estimate the frequency of native disorder in several representative genomes from the three kingdoms of life. Putative, long (>30 residue) disordered segments are found to occur in 2.0% of archaean, 4.2% of eubacterial and 33.0% of eukaryotic proteins. The function of proteins with long predicted regions of disorder was investigated using the gene ontology annotations supplied with the Saccharomyces genome database. The analysis of the yeast proteome suggests that proteins containing disorder are often located in the cell nucleus and are involved in the regulation of transcription and cell signalling. The results also indicate that native disorder is associated with the molecular functions of kinase activity and nucleic acid binding.