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Societies’ use of material resources is increasingly recognized as a key factor behind sustainability problems. The mass of materials used per capita and year differs substantially between countries. However, a limited range of variables (mostly per-capita gross domestic product [GDP]) were analyzed to explain this variation. Spatial patterns of cities influence their resource use, but the role of patterns of settlements and infrastructures as co-determinants of national-level material use is unknown, mainly due to lacking data to investigate their effects at that scale. Here we start closing this gap by systematically analyzing a broad set of potential determinants of national per-capita material demand, including built structures. Material demand is represented by both production- and consumption-based indicators. Among its potential determinants, we analyze eight novel indicators representing extent and spatial patterns of settlements and transport infrastructures in each country, along with GDP and other indicators considered so far. Analyzing 123 countries inhabited by 91% of the world population and accounting for 92% of world GDP, we show that built structures strongly co-determine resource use. Indicators of extent and spatial patterns of built structures have substantial additional explanatory power beyond GDP and other conventional indicators for both production- and consumption-based material flow indicators. The area of built-up land per capita emerges as the strongest predictor, but several other indicators representing built structures are also highly relevant. Limiting built-up land and designing spatial patterns of built structures hence deserve attention in attempts to reduce societies’ resource throughput.

Built structures, i.e. the patterns of settlements and transport infrastructures, are known to influence per-capita energy demand and CO2 emissions at the urban level. At the national level, the role of built structures is seldom considered due to poor data availability. Instead, other potential determinants of energy demand and CO2 emissions, primarily GDP, are more frequently assessed. We present a set of national-level indicators to characterize patterns of built structures. We quantify these indicators for 113 countries and statistically analyze the results along with final energy use and territorial CO2 emissions, as well as factors commonly included in national-level analyses of determinants of energy use and emissions. We find that these indicators are about equally important for predicting energy demand and CO2 emissions as GDP and other conventional factors. The area of built-up land per capita is the most important predictor, second only to the effect of GDP.© 2023. The Author(s).

How is space communicatively achieved in face-to-face interaction and how can we account for the means and forms of such an achievement of space among those present? Answering these questions within an ethnomethodological framework, we propose the assumption of a general interactional problem of situational anchoring; that is, of a participant’s task to ascertain and to communicate the actually relevant aspects of their spatial surroundings. In solving this problem, space becomes interactively achieved as “interactional space”. Interactional space draws heavily on resources prior to the ongoing interaction. Among these are architectures for interaction, which provide a rich and powerful set of usability cues for participants. Especially within institutionalized communication, participants systematically utilize architectural manifestations in terms of buildings, settings, furnishings, and technologies. This abstract view is elaborated on with evidence from data of over-the-counter ticket-sales conversation, which is currently undergoing a process of significant refiguration affecting architectural, bodily, and verbal resources of situational anchoring.

Membrane protein production is usually toxic to E. coli. However, using genetic screens strains can be isolated in which the toxicity of membrane protein production is reduced, thereby improving production yields. Best known examples are the C41(DE3) and C43(DE3) strains, which are both derived from the T7 RNA polymerase (P)-based BL21(DE3) protein production strain. In C41(DE3) and C43(DE3) mutations lowering t7rnap expression levels result in strongly reduced T7 RNAP accumulation levels. As a consequence membrane protein production stress is alleviated in the C41(DE3) and C43(DE3) strains, thereby increasing membrane protein yields. Here, we isolated Mutant56(DE3) from BL21(DE3) using a genetic screen designed to isolate BL21(DE3)-derived strains with mutations alleviating membrane protein production stress other than the ones in C41(DE3) and C43(DE3). The defining mutation of Mutant56(DE3) changes one amino acid in its T7 RNAP, which weakens the binding of the T7 RNAP to the T7 promoter governing target gene expression rather than lowering T7 RNAP levels. For most membrane proteins tested yields in Mutant56(DE3) were considerably higher than in C41(DE3) and C43(DE3). Thus, the isolation of Mutant56(DE3) shows that the evolution of BL21(DE3) can be promoted towards further enhanced membrane protein production.

Das zentrale Ziel der Machbarkeitsstudie für einen Lebendigen Atlas – Natur Deutschland war die Prüfung der Möglichkeiten und Grenzen eines nationalen Lebendigen Atlas als Integrations- und Vernetzungsplattform von Akteuren und Daten im Bereich Biodiversität, Ökosysteme und Kulturlandschaften in Deutschland. Konzipiert als Bottom-up-Prozess, hat die Studie den jeweiligen Mehrwert für den Natur- und Umweltschutz ebenso wie für das Engagement der Zivilgesellschaft und für die Wissenschaft herausgearbeitet. Weiterhin wurden mögliche Partner für einen Lebendigen Atlas in Politik, Gesellschaft und Wissenschaft identifiziert und Bedarf sowie Voraussetzungen geprüft. Federführend geleitet wurde die Machbarkeitsstudie durch die großen Umweltverbände (BUND und NABU) und die Wissenschaft (UFZ/iDiv) unter Beteiligung des Dachverbands Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA) und des Lehrstuhls für Bürgerliches Recht, Wettbewerbs- und Immaterialgüterrecht, Medien- und Informationsrecht der Universität Göttingen sowie von weiteren zahlreichen VertreterInnen aus Fachgesellschaften und Verbänden, Behörden, Verwaltungen und Wissenschaft. Die Durchführung erfolgte im Zeitraum Oktober 2015 bis September 2016.

Das zentrale Ziel der Machbarkeitsstudie für einen Lebendigen Atlas – Natur Deutschland war die Prüfung der Möglichkeiten und Grenzen eines nationalen Lebendigen Atlas als Integrations- und Vernetzungsplattform von Akteuren und Daten im Bereich Biodiversität, Ökosysteme und Kulturlandschaften in Deutschland. Konzipiert als Bottom-up-Prozess, hat die Studie den jeweiligen Mehrwert für den Natur- und Umweltschutz ebenso wie für das Engagement der Zivilgesellschaft und für die Wissenschaft herausgearbeitet. Weiterhin wurden mögliche Partner für einen Lebendigen Atlas in Politik, Gesellschaft und Wissenschaft identifiziert und Bedarf sowie Voraussetzungen geprüft. Federführend geleitet wurde die Machbarkeitsstudie durch die großen Umweltverbände (BUND und NABU) und die Wissenschaft (UFZ/iDiv) unter Beteiligung des Dachverbands Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA) und des Lehrstuhls für Bürgerliches Recht, Wettbewerbs- und Immaterialgüterrecht, Medien- und Informationsrecht der Universität Göttingen sowie von weiteren zahlreichen VertreterInnen aus Fachgesellschaften und Verbänden, Behörden, Verwaltungen und Wissenschaft. Die Durchführung erfolgte im Zeitraum Oktober 2015 bis September 2016.

© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. Stomatal conductance (g s) is a key land-surface attribute as it links transpiration, the dominant component of global land evapotranspiration, and photosynthesis, the driving force of the global carbon cycle. Despite the pivotal role of g s in predictions of global water and carbon cycle changes, a global-scale database and an associated globally applicable model of g s that allow predictions of stomatal behaviour are lacking. Here, we present a database of globally distributed g s obtained in the field for a wide range of plant functional types (PFTs) and biomes. We find that stomatal behaviour differs among PFTs according to their marginal carbon cost of water use, as predicted by the theory underpinning the optimal stomatal model and the leaf and wood economics spectrum. We also demonstrate a global relationship with climate. These findings provide a robust theoretical framework for understanding and predicting the behaviour of g s across biomes and across PFTs that can be applied to regional, continental and global-scale modelling of ecosystem productivity, energy balance and ecohydrological processes in a future changing climate.