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Phosphorylation and ubiquitination-mediated signalling in Arabidopsis root and hypocotyl growth
No full textSingle-plant omics : a new methodology to gather knowledge in field conditions
No full textOm het probleem van klimaatverandering aan te pakken is het cruciaal om gewassen met een hogere stressbestendigheid en opbrengst te ontwikkelen. Een aanzienlijke uitdaging in dit streven is echter de kloof tussen laboratorium- en veldomstandigheden. Deze kloof ontstaat wanneer studies uitgevoerd onder gecontroleerde laboratoriumomstandigheden beperkte voorspellende waarde hebben voor fenotypes in reële veldomstandigheden. Om dit obstakel te overwinnen hebben we een nieuw experimenteel design geïmplementeerd, waarin we -omics en fenotype-profilering toepassen op individuele planten, met dezelfde genetische achtergrond en gegroeid in hetzelfde veld, om de moleculaire en fenotypische reacties van planten op veldomstandigheden te bestuderen. Door gebruik te maken van ongecontroleerde variaties in micro-omgeving en stochastische variaties in het veld kunnen we onderzoeken welke genen stressbestendigheid en opbrengst-fenotypes in het veld beïnvloeden. Deze methodologie werd getest op twee gewassen: maïs en koolzaad
Writing feminism on the crossroads between England and Italy : the case of Lucy Re Bartlett (1876–1922)
No full textQuesto articolo si concentra su Lucy Re Bartlett (1876–1922), attivista, filosofa e scrittrice che, in quanto membro del Women’s Social and Political Union, partecipò attivamente ai dibattiti socio-politici sui diritti delle donne e il loro ruolo nella società. Appartenente all'ala più radicale del movimento per il suffragio femminile, Re Bartlett promosse le tattiche delle suffragette inglesi e ne discusse in modo dettagliato nei suoi scritti. Dopo essersi trasferita in Italia, entrò presto in contatto con una delle più influenti editrici italiane del tempo, Sofia Bisi Albini (1856–1919). La stampa periodica femminile divenne un prezioso alleato nel suo intento di diffondere in Italia le sue teorie progressiste. L’obiettivo di questo articolo è di illustrare come le idee spesso controverse di Lucy Re Bartlett si intrecciarono e interagirono con il contesto italiano, dando vita a una nuova visione progressista della femminilità, della maternità, nonché del ruolo della donna in senso lato. Infine, verrà analizzato l'impatto della Prima Guerra Mondiale sulla produzione giornalistica di Lucy Re Bartlett e come il conflitto abbia dato ulteriore slancio al suo lavoro rivoluzionario
Recovery and quality of life of family members of persons with a substance use disorder
No full textFamily members of persons with a substance use disorder (SUD) are heavily impacted by the challenges related to the substance use of their relative, making them go through a process of family recovery. The concept of family recovery is used to indicate that each family member confronted with a substance use disorder of a relative experiences a unique recovery process. This process is influenced by different factors: the relationship towards one’s relative, one’s own well-being and quality of life, the support network, the access to and willingness to receive support and one’s individual resiliency. Additionally, the process of family recovery is characterized by similar principles (e.g. hope and coping skills) that are also supportive in an individual recovery process of persons with substance use disorders. But, family recovery is a complex and multi-layered concept, for which it is important to not only look at the recovery process an individual family member is going through, but also at the family recovery of the family system as a whole. In this chapter, attention will be paid to the complexity of the family recovery concept, focusing first on the individual family member recovery process and second on the family recovery process of the family system. Finally, a discussion on the concept of individual family member recovery and family recovery will be elaborated with attention for the impact it has on the family quality of life and the relational processes between a person with a SUD, the family and the society
Questioning the conversion paradox : gender, sexuality, and belonging amongst women becoming jewish, christian, and muslim in the Netherlands
No full textWhat does it mean to join a religion as a woman in the Netherlands? How do female converts negotiate questions of gender and emancipation? This dissertation analyses the experiences of Dutch women who became Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. A persistent stereotype about these women is that by converting, they give up their emancipated status, and that religion mainly limits women’s freedom. This work criticizes and nuances this image based on thorough qualitative research into the experiences of female newcomers themselves. Instead of asking why they joined Judaism, Christianity or Islam, it studies how the process of conversion takes shape in their daily lives. Think of everyday rituals, food, clothing, or the position of women in the new community. In its analyses, the dissertation highlights the intersections between religion, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity/race. This research shows that, whilst conversion has different meanings and expressions in each context, certain characteristics are shared. Conversion is often a long process without a clear beginning or end, in which practices are at least as important as beliefs. In this process, questions of gender and sexuality play a role in various ways, and these are the dissertation’s main focus. In addition, the difference in social position of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women in the Dutch context turns out to have a deep impact on the experiences of newcomers. With this unique comparative approach, this dissertation sheds light on broader societal debates on religion, emancipation and in- and exclusion in a predominantly secularized society
The hunt for quasars at cosmic dawn : insights into redshift > 6 weak-line active galaxies and deep learning for discovering lensed sources
No full textExploring underlying mechanisms in the relationship between regret, rumination and depression
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Mechanistic modelling reveals hydraulic functioning in wheat during carbon mobilisation
No full textWheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important crops worldwide. Due to the constant increase in population, there is an everlasting increase in food demand, and pressure on resources will increase even further. Moreover, in the face of climate change, regions where drought prevails will only increase in both frequency and duration. Heat waves are also very likely to occur more often and last longer, and this in combination with more intense and extreme precipitation events. Drought is expected to greatly increase yield losses in wheat. Most studies only investigate drought during grain-filling, or study the effects of pre-anthesis drought at maturity. Hydraulic functioning in wheat plants is still largely unknown. A thorough mechanistic understanding of physiological mechanisms of drought adaptation at tissue level can lead to the development of more resistant crops with acceptable yields in the foreseen environments under climate change.
The objective of this PhD dissertation was to improve our understanding of the hydraulic functioning in wheat during pre- and post-anthesis drought in the context of the phenological development of the plant. During stem elongation, wheat increases its stem carbohydrate content before anthesis as a reserve for grain filling. Hydraulic functioning during this
mobilisation process is not well understood and contradictory results exist on the direct effects of drought on stem carbohydrate mobilisation.
In a first step, stem water potential (SWP) was directly measured and compared to the water potential in leaves, wrapped in aluminium foil. Measuring these wrapped leaves with the pressure chamber is a common method to measure SWP in woody plants. We found that wrapping the leaves did not render SWP, contradictory to what was expected. At low soil water potential values, wrapped leaf water potential overestimated SWP by 70 %. Furthermore,
SWP in wheat plants remained constant with a declining soil water potential. It was concluded that wheat plants are capable of maintaining SWP during drought stress. We hypothesized that the presence of a large carbohydrate storage in the stem was responsible for this constant SWP, which could later be explained by apoplastic flow.
To understand hydraulic functioning, a dedicated experiment was conducted where wheat plants were subjected to drought stress during carbon mobilisation while being monitored by different plant sensors. Additional non-destructive and destructive measurements were taken. Leaf water potential, osmotic potential and water content in different plant parts were first analysed to study osmotic adjustment in the wheat stem. After that, a wheat model was developed that simulated the flow and storage of water in the wheat stem. Measurements showed some unexpected patterns that could not be explained by our current knowledge on water transport. Traditional water flow and storage models failed to properly describe the drought response in wheat stems during carbon mobilisation. To explain the measured
patterns, hypotheses were formulated and integrated in a dedicated model for wheat. The new mechanistic model simulates two hypothetical water storage compartments: one where water is quickly exchanged with the xylem and one that contains the carbohydrate storage. Water exchange between these compartments is turgor-driven and hypothesized to occur in the apoplast. The model was able to simulate the measured increase in stored carbohydrate concentrations with a decrease in water content and stem diameter. Calibration of the model showed the importance of turgor-driven apoplastic water flow during stem carbon mobilisation. This resulted in an increase in stem hydraulic capacitance, which became more important during drought stress
