Plastic is one of the biggest contributors to pollution of the planet. Due to the low recyclability of oil-based plastics, most plastic is being disposed into the environment. According to plastic oceans, 10 million tons of plastic are dumped into oceans annually. Currently, researchers are developing recycling methods for oil-based plastics and are looking for biobased alternatives. One of these alternatives are a class of polymers called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA’s). PHA’s differ from other biobased polymers, due to the process of fabrication. PHA’s are a natural polymer, acting as an energy and carbon storage for different strains of bacteria. Functioning as an energy storage, nature can break down PHA’s and PHA-based waste. (1) Different companies are working on PHA’s production, but a large deviations in physical properties were observed. This research aims to establish a relationship between the chemical and physical properties of the different PHA’s, using gel permeability chromatography (GPC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS).
DOCUMENT
Snelle technologische ontwikkelingen bieden kansen voor de maritieme sector. Zij maken de scheepvaart efficiënter, veiliger en schoner. De techniek heeft regelgeving en professionals nodig die ook klaar zijn voor de toekomst. Het lectoraat Maritime Law voert praktijkgericht onderzoek uit op de scheidslijn van recht en (maritieme) techniek samen met studenten, docenten, het bedrijfsleven en kennisinstellingen.
MULTIFILE
The World Hunt: An Environmental History of the Commodification of Animals is written by John F. Richards, a ‘pioneer in environmental history’ as J. R. McNeill calls him in his introduction to the volume. This introduction explains how this unique yet not always easily accessible text exploring the environmental and socio-economic dimensions of commercial exploitation of non-humans came into being, and how it can be seen in the contexts of the history of human relationships to the environment and of contemporary ethics. The World Hunt is an unusual volume in that it blends environmental history, the dispassionate narrative of facts, with a voice that is at times full of hurt, as it expresses genuine concern for the voiceless victims of hunters’ increasingly global pursuits. The volume is essentially an extract from the meticulously researched and finely detailed history of hunting, fishing and whaling presented in Richards’ exhaustive The Unending Frontier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.09.025 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
MULTIFILE
Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTOs) are increasingly used in Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), yet most remain limited to 2D representations and offer minimal stakeholder interactivity. These limitations reduce their effectiveness in capturing complex socio-ecological-technical dynamics and supporting exploratory what-if scenario planning in a 3D or 4D ocean space. This paper presents Immersive Ocean, a novel Virtual Twin platform developed within EU-ILIAD DTO initiative. Built with game engine and VR technologies, it supports procedural 3D world generation and interactive exploration in both desktop and immersive VR modes. Systematic performance validation demonstrated stable frame rates across both PC and VR platforms. Initial user evaluations (n=22) report high usability and engagement but also suggest areas for improvement in UI clarity and ecological model representation. These initial findings position Immersive Ocean as a promising Virtual Twin solution for an immersive, interactive, and data-integrated approach to MSP and ocean governance. Immersive Ocean is now being piloted with stakeholders in real-world MSP scenarios, including offshore wind farm planning.
DOCUMENT
During the last twenty years, a remarkable new type of service has been developed in the world of sports, which can be described as the indoorisation of outdoor sports. Typical outdoor sports like climbing, skiing, surfing, rowing, and skydiving, which used to be exclusively practiced in a natural environment of mountains, oceans, rivers and the air, are now being offered for consumption in safe, predictable and controlled indoor centers. The present article emphasizes the rise of indoor lifestyle sports, such as rafting, snowboarding, skydiving and surfing. It discusses the conditions under and ways in which commercial entrepreneurs in the Netherlands have created this market, the meanings that they have ascribed to their centers and the dilemmas with which they have been confronted. It is argued that the rise of this economic market cannot be understood if it is solely interpreted as the result of economic, technological or natural developments. These economic activities were also embedded in and influenced by shared understandings and their representations in structured fields of outdoor sports, mainstream sports and leisure experience activities. A better understanding of the indoorisation of outdoor lifestyle sports can be achieved by recognizing how these structures and cultures pervaded the rise of this new market.
DOCUMENT
This open access book states that the endemic societal faultlines of our times are deeply intertwined and that they confront us with challenges affecting the security and sustainability of our societies. It states that new ways of inhabiting and cultivating our planet are needed to keep it healthy for future generations. This requires a fundamental shift from the current anthropocentric and economic growth-oriented social contract to a more ecocentric and regenerative natural social contract. The author posits that in a natural social contract, society cannot rely on the market or state alone for solutions to grand societal challenges, nor leave them to individual responsibility. Rather, these problems need to be solved through transformative social-ecological innovation (TSEI), which involves systemic changes that affect sustainability, health and justice. The TSEI framework presented in this book helps to diagnose and advance innovation and change across sectors and disciplines, and at different levels of governance. It identifies intervention points and helps formulate sustainable solutions for policymakers, administrators, concerned citizens and professionals in moving towards a more just and equitable society.
MULTIFILE
DOCUMENT
Business is changing from an industrial- to a knowledge-based environment, building more from professionals and their expertise. Corporations need to create internal organizations in which there is more emphasis on human capital and creating/sharing knowledge and talents. Talent management and knowledge creation should be new foci to create sustainability and long-term success. On the whole, organisations are working too much on an ad hoc basis, focusing on technology instead of creating an environment in which talents reinforce each other. In this review article we explore knowledge circulation, link knowledge, and talent to innovation, and discuss optimum circumstances for corporations to benefit from these assets.
DOCUMENT
What does it mean to position anthropos in the center? Questioning anthropocentrism is far more than an academic exercise of debating the dominant cultural motif of placing humans at the center of material and ethical concerns. It is a fertile way of shifting the focus of attention away from the problem-symptoms of our time (be these symptoms as far-reaching as rapid climate change or as inconvenient as “just” jellyfish jamming the machine) to the investigation of root causes. And certainly the dominant beliefs, values, and attitudes guiding human action constitute a significant driver of the pressing problems of our day. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-014-9362-1 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
MULTIFILE
This module for Involving Anthropology presents an account of one of the plenary debates held at the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) World Congress held at Manchester University, 5-10 August 2013. The module begins with a brief introduction to provide the context for the debate, which included two speakers for (Amita Baviskar and Don Nonini) and two speakers against (Helen Kopnina and Veronica Strang) the motion: ‘Justice for people must come before justice for the environment’. The introduction is followed by an edited transcript of John Gledhill’s welcome and introduction, the texts of the arguments made by each speaker for and against the motion (with the exception of Veronica Strang, whose presentation is being published elsewhere a summary of the comments and questions subsequently invited from the floor of the hall, and then a transcript of the responses of the presenters. https://doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2015.1102229 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
MULTIFILE
