Equestrianism is currently facing a range of pressing challenges. These challenges, which are largely based on evolving attitudes to ethics and equine wellbeing, have consequences for the sport’s social licence to operate. The factors that may have contributed to the current situation include overarching societal trends, specific aspects of the equestrian sector, and factors rooted in human nature. If equestrianism is to flourish, it is evident that much needs to change, not the least,human behaviour. To this end, using established behaviour change frameworks that have been scientifically validated and are rooted in practice — most notably, Michie et al.’s COM-B model and Behaviour Change Wheel — could be of practical value for developing and implementing equine welfare strategies. This review summarises the theoretical underpinnings of some behaviour change frameworks and provides a practical, step-by-step approach to designing an effective behaviour change intervention. A real-world example is provided through the retrospective analysis of an intervention strategy that aimed to increase the use of learning theory in (educational) veterinary practice. We contend that the incorporation of effective behaviour change interventions into any equine welfare improvement strategy may help to safeguard the future of equestrianism.
MULTIFILE
The invention relates to the use of modified starch obtainable by treating amylose containing starch in aqueous medium with an enzyme from the group of the α-1,4-α-1,4-glucosyl transferases (EC 2.4.1.25) or an enzyme the activity of which corresponds to that of enzymes from the group just mentioned, as an agent for forming a thermoreversible gel. The invention also relates to products in the form of a thermoreversible gel having as gel-forming substance a modified starch as defined. The invention further relates to the use of a modified starch as defined in the form of an aqueous solution.
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The exploitation of the metagenome for novel biocatalysts by functional screening is determined by the ability to express the respective genes in a surrogate host. The probability of recovering a certain gene thereby depends on its abundance in the environmental DNA used for library construction, the chosen insert size, the length of the target gene, and the presence of expression signals that are functional in the host organism. In this paper, we present a set of formulas that describe the chance of isolating a gene by random expression cloning, taking into account the three different modes of heterologous gene expression: independent expression, expression as a transcriptional fusion and expression as a translational fusion. Genes of the last category are shown to be virtually inaccessible by shotgun cloning because of the low frequency of functional constructs. To evaluate which part of the metagenome might in this way evade exploitation, 32 complete genome sequences of prokaryotic organisms were analysed for the presence of expression signals functional in E. coli hosts, using bioinformatics tools. Our study reveals significant differences in the predicted expression modes between distinct taxonomic groups of organisms and suggests that about 40% of the enzymatic activities may be readily recovered by random cloning in E. coli.
Paper sludge contains papermaking mineral additives and fibers, which could be reused or recycled, thus enhancing the circularity. One of the promising technologies is the fast pyrolysis of paper sludge, which is capable of recovering > 99 wt.% of the fine minerals in the paper sludge and also affording a bio-liquid. The fine minerals (e.g., ‘circular’ CaCO3) can be reused as filler in consumer products thereby reducing the required primary resources. However, the bio-liquid has a lower quality compared to fossil fuels, and only a limited application, e.g., for heat generation, has been applied. This could be significantly improved by catalytic upgrading of the fast pyrolysis vapor, known as an ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis approach. We have recently found that a high-quality bio-oil (mainly ‘bio-based’ paraffins and low-molecular-weight aromatics, carbon yield of 21%, and HHV of 41.1 MJ kg-1) was produced (Chem. Eng. J., 420 (2021), 129714). Nevertheless, catalyst deactivation occurred after a few hours’ of reaction. As such, catalyst stability and regenerability are of research interest and also of high relevance for industrial implementation. This project aims to study the potential of the add-on catalytic upgrading step to the industrial fast pyrolysis of paper sludge process. One important performance metric for sustainable catalysis in the industry is the level of catalyst consumption (kgcat tprod-1) for catalytic pyrolysis of paper sludge. Another important research topic is to establish the correlation between yield and selectivity of the bio-chemicals and the catalyst characteristics. For this, different types of catalysts (e.g., FCC-type E-Cat) will be tested and several reaction-regeneration cycles will be performed. These studies will determine under which conditions catalytic fast pyrolysis of paper sludge is technically and economically viable.
Resistance to damage, fracture and failure is critical for high performance polymers, especially so in safety applications where they protect equipment or human life. In this project we investigate the use of molecular mechanochemistry tools for the measurement and analysis of mechanical impact in high performance polymers and their composites. While typically performed in a laboratory setting, these measurements hold promise for studying damage in large scale realistic samples. For this we will to develop fluorescent imaging techniques and chemistry, necessary to produce mechanoresponsive samples. This proposal will also draw correlations between imaging and mechanical testing, which can ultimately allow us to study realistic samples and recover the history of the impact they have sustained during operation.
Environmental nano- and micro-plastics (NMPs) are highly diverse [2]. Accounting for this diversity is one of the main challenges to develop a comprehensive understanding of NMPs detection, quantification, fate, and risks [3]. Two major issues currently limit progresses within this field: (a) validation and broadening the current analytical tools (b) uncertainty with respect to NMPs occurrence and behaviour at small scales (< 20 micron). Tracking NMPs in environmental systems is currently limited to micron size plastics due to the size detection limit of the available analytical techniques. There are currently many uncertainties regarding detecting nanoplastics in real environmental systems, e.g. the inexistence of commercially available NMPs and incompatibility between them and those generated from plastic fragments degradation in the environment. Trying to tackle these problems some research groups synthesized NMPs dopped with metals inside [16]. However, even though elemental analysis techniques (ICP-MS) are rather sensitive, the low volume of these metals encapsulated in the nanoparticles make their detection rather challenging. At the same time, due to Sars-Cov-19 pandemic, nucleic acid identification technologies (LAMP, PCR) experienced a fast evolution and are able to provide detection at very low levels with very compact and reliable equipment. Nuclepar proposes the use of Electrohydrodynamic Atomization (EHDA) to generate NMPs coated with nucleic acids of different polymer types, sizes, and shapes, which can be used as support for detection of such particles using PCR-LAMP technology. If proven possible, Nuclepar might become a first step towards an easy NMPs detection tool. This knowledge will certainly impact current risk assessment tools, efficient interventions to limit emissions and adequate regulations related to NMPs.
