The circular economy holds the potential to significantly reduce resource use. However, attempts to fully utilize its potential have fallen short so far. Based on a longitudinal interview‐based ...study, we examine how micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the UK fashion industry advance the circular economy (CE). Whereas the dynamic capabilities framework is mostly used for medium and large businesses, our findings advance the current literature, demonstrating how the distinctive development and use of dynamic capabilities enable MSMEs to act in agile ways, allowing them to introduce, test and advance CE solutions, while providing them with more resilience during times of crises. Our study further shows that fashion MSMEs adopt circular economy business models (CEBMs) by going beyond conventional, technology‐focused approaches currently dominating business thinking. The research highlights MSMEs' ability to engage in circular practices through an extension of existing business models in the form of close interactions with their customers demonstrating the importance and potential of extended business‐customer engagement in businesses' attempts to adopt CE practices.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The enzymatic route of purine ring catabolism has recently been completed by the discovery of several novel enzymes identified through comparative genome analyses. Here, we review these recent ...discoveries and present an overview of purine ring catabolism in plants. Xanthine is oxidized to urate in the cytosol, followed by three enzymatic steps taking place in the peroxisome and four reactions in the endoplasmic reticulum releasing the four ring nitrogen as ammonia. Although the main physiological function of purine degradation might lie in the remobilization of nitrogen resources, it has also emerged that catabolic intermediates, the ureides allantoin and allantoate, are likely to be involved in protecting plants against abiotic stress. Conserved alternative splicing mediating the peroxisomal as well as cytosolic localization of allantoin synthase potentially links purine ring catabolism to brassinosteroid signaling.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
BACKGROUND:Peripheral vascular resistance has a major impact on arterial blood pressure levels. Endothelial C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) participates in the local regulation of vascular tone, but ...the target cells remain controversial. The cGMP-producing guanylyl cyclase–B (GC-B) receptor for CNP is expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). However, whereas endothelial cell–specific CNP knockout mice are hypertensive, mice with deletion of GC-B in vascular SMCs have unaltered blood pressure.
METHODS:We analyzed whether the vasodilating response to CNP changes along the vascular tree, ie, whether the GC-B receptor is expressed in microvascular types of cells. Mice with a floxed GC-B (Npr2) gene were interbred with Tie2-Cre or PDGF-Rβ-Cre lines to develop mice lacking GC-B in endothelial cells or in precapillary arteriolar SMCs and capillary pericytes. Intravital microscopy, invasive and noninvasive hemodynamics, fluorescence energy transfer studies of pericyte cAMP levels in situ, and renal physiology were combined to dissect whether and how CNP/GC-B/cGMP signaling modulates microcirculatory tone and blood pressure.
RESULTS:Intravital microscopy studies revealed that the vasodilatatory effect of CNP increases toward small-diameter arterioles and capillaries. CNP consistently did not prevent endothelin-1–induced acute constrictions of proximal arterioles, but fully reversed endothelin effects in precapillary arterioles and capillaries. Here, the GC-B receptor is expressed both in endothelial and mural cells, ie, in pericytes. It is notable that the vasodilatatory effects of CNP were preserved in mice with endothelial GC-B deletion, but abolished in mice lacking GC-B in microcirculatory SMCs and pericytes. CNP, via GC-B/cGMP signaling, modulates 2 signaling cascades in pericytesit activates cGMP-dependent protein kinase I to phosphorylate downstream targets such as the cytoskeleton-associated vasodilator-activated phosphoprotein, and it inhibits phosphodiesterase 3A, thereby enhancing pericyte cAMP levels. These pathways ultimately prevent endothelin-induced increases of pericyte calcium levels and pericyte contraction. Mice with deletion of GC-B in microcirculatory SMCs and pericytes have elevated peripheral resistance and chronic arterial hypertension without a change in renal function.
CONCLUSIONS:Our studies indicate that endothelial CNP regulates distal arteriolar and capillary blood flow. CNP-induced GC-B/cGMP signaling in microvascular SMCs and pericytes is essential for the maintenance of normal microvascular resistance and blood pressure.
The EU policymakers have adopted legislation to support communities taking responsibility for the energy transition. However, their development and integration are still in their early stages: many ...studies are performed without considering the overlapped social, economic, political, electrical, and information technology tasks simultaneously. This paper is the first to look at energy communities in their entirety, from the roles of the actors to the organisation, regulation, technical solution, and the market, to the use and business cases. The waterfall methodology was used throughout the work. The results show that energy communities can be viable by becoming reliable players so DSOs can better integrate the acquired flexibility and other services into their processes without compromising power supply. Their technical integration requires a coordinated operation and control of the entire power grid, including transmission and distribution, and the end-users, as proposed by the LINK holistic solution. The suggested fractal-based market structure, with the national, regional and local markets harmonised with the grid, facilitates the direct participation of small customers and distributed resources to the energy market. The results of this work may help policymakers, regulators, and industry representatives define new energy policies and processes related to research and development programs for implementing fully integrated renewable energy communities.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Chronic psychosocial stress is a risk factor for the development of numerous disorders, of which most are associated with chronic low-grade inflammation. Given the immunosuppressive effects of ...glucocorticoids (GC), one underlying mechanism might be the development of stress-induced GC resistance in certain immune cell subpopulations. In line with this hypothesis, male mice exposed to the chronic subordinate colony housing (CSC, 19 days) model develop GC resistance of
lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated splenocytes, splenomegaly and an increased percentage of splenic CD11b
cells. Here male C57BL/6N mice were euthanized at different days during CSC, and following 30 days of single housing after stressor termination to assess when CSC-induced splenic GC resistance starts to develop and whether this is a transient effect. Moreover, splenic CD11b, GC receptor (GR) and/or macrophage migration inhibiting factor (MIF) protein levels were quantified at respective days. While mild forms of CSC-induced GC resistance, increased splenic CD11b expression and/or splenomegaly were detectable on days 8 and 9 of CSC, more severe forms took until days 15 and 16 to develop, but normalized almost completely within 30 days following stressor termination (day 51). In contrast, splenic GR expression was decreased in CSC versus single-housed control (SHC) mice at all days assessed. While MIF expression was increased on days 15 and 16 of CSC, it was decreased in CSC versus SHC mice on day 20 despite persisting splenomegaly, increased CD11b expression and functional GC resistance. In summary, our data indicate that GC resistance and CD11b
cell-mediated splenomegaly develop gradually and in parallel over time during CSC exposure and are transient in nature. Moreover, while we can exclude that CSC-induced reduction in splenic GR expression is sufficient to induce functional GC resistance, the role of MIF in CD11b
cell-mediated splenomegaly and GC resistance requires further investigation.
The availability of whole genome sequences boosts the identification of biochemical pathways conserved across species using tools of comparative genomics. A cross-organism protein association ...analysis allowed us to identify two enzymes, ureidoglycine aminohydrolase and ureidoglycolate amidohydrolase, that catalyze the final reactions of purine degradation in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A similar pathway was found in Escherichia coli, while an alternative metabolic route via ureidoglycine transaminase can be predicted for other organisms.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
As a contribution to the emerging field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) cognition, this article reports on the findings of an exploratory study that compares SME owner–managers' mental ...models with regard to CSR and related concepts across six European countries (Belgium, Italy, Norway, France, UK, Spain). Utilising Repertory Grid Technique, we found that the SME owner–managers' mental models show a few commonalities as well as a number of differences across the different country samples. We interpret those differences by linking individual cognition to macro-environmental variables, such as language, national traditions and dissemination mechanisms. The results of our exploratory study show that nationality matters but that classifications of countries as found in the comparative capitalism literature do not exactly mirror national differences in CSR cognition and that these classifications need further differentiation. The findings from our study raise questions on the universality of cognition of academic management concepts and warn that promotion of responsible business practice should not rely on the use of unmediated US American management terminology.
INTERACT is an international research and innovation project which boosts the emergence of Energy Communities as one crucial building block to achieve Positive Energy Districts. It is designing an ...optimal organization and structure for Energy Communities based on success-factors of existing PED/PEN approaches, stakeholder needs and motivation, the available technologies, and a holistic LINK-based architecture. Technological and market-related solutions are delivered that maximize the benefit for the environment and society, considering the current legal framework and available business models. The project will develop a roadmap for the Energy Community's secure and reliable embedding into the power system structure, focusing on two pilot regions, a green-field project in Sweden and an~existing municipality in Austria. The holistic architecture is used to ensure the integrity of the solution by harmonizing all interactions within the Energy Community itself, between it and the market, and the European power system. Its standardized and flexible structure allows the straightforward application of the roadmap to perfectly meet the diverse necessities of local communities, thus supporting the large-scale roll-out of the new control paradigms.
Allantoate amidohydrolases (AAHs) hydrolize the ureide allantoate to ureidoglycolate, CO₂, and two molecules of ammonium. Allantoate degradation is required to recycle purine-ring nitrogen in all ...plants. Tropical legumes additionally transport fixed nitrogen via allantoin and allantoate into the shoot, where it serves as a general nitrogen source. AAHs from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana; AtAAH) and from soybean (Glycine max; GmAAH) were cloned, expressed in planta as StrepII-tagged variants, and highly purified from leaf extracts. Both proteins form homodimers and release 2 mol ammonium/mol allantoate. Therefore, they can truly be classified as AAHs. The kinetic constants determined and the half-maximal activation by 2 to 3 μM manganese are consistent with allantoate being the in vivo substrate of manganese-loaded AAHs. The enzymes were strongly inhibited by micromolar concentrations of fluoride as well as by borate, and by millimolar concentrations of L-asparagine and L-aspartate but not D-asparagine. L-Asparagine likely functions as competitive inhibitor. An Ataah T-DNA mutant, unable to grow on allantoin as sole nitrogen source, is rescued by the expression of StrepII-tagged variants of AtAAH and GmAAH, demonstrating that both proteins are functional in vivo. Similarly, an allantoinase (aln) mutant is rescued by a tagged AtAln variant. Fluorescent fusion proteins of allantoinase and both AAHs localize to the endoplasmic reticulum after transient expression and in transgenic plants. These findings demonstrate that after the generation of allantoin in the peroxisome, plant purine degradation continues in the endoplasmic reticulum.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
This article explores empirically the choice rationales for voluntary adoption of the Living Wage (LW) by managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. Framed analytically by ...related concerns within the fields of employment relations/HRM in SMEs, business ethics and signalling, interviews with owners/directors from 23 SMEs identified a four-fold typology of choice rationales for the LW as: an expression of care for employees, the basis for a high quality service business model, a marker of corporate social responsibility, and a signal to challenge the practice of other economic actors. Opportunities and barriers for voluntary adoption of the LW in SMEs are considered, in addition to their economic effects. The practical implications for LW movements and SME managers are drawn out, and avenues for further research identified.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
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