The Skeleton Creek project will be located in three Oklahoma counties

The Skeleton Creek project will be located in three Oklahoma counties

Global demand for air-conditioning is projected to triple over the next 30 years, as the planet warms and urban populations grow, particularly in emerging markets. Meeting that demand will call for significant investments in new cooling infrastructure and the electrical generating capacity necessary to power it. Although traditional cooling technologies are expected to become more efficient in coming years, countries will need to plan for these additional loads, which will be expensive. Emerging markets can also make use of district cooling, an approach that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which consists of six Middle Eastern countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman — have successfully adopted.

Global demand for air-conditioning is projected to triple over the next 30 years, as the planet warms and urban populations grow, particularly in emerging markets. Meeting that demand will call for significant investments in new cooling infrastructure and the electrical generating capacity necessary to power it. Although traditional cooling technologies are expected to become more efficient in coming years, countries will need to plan for these additional loads, which will be expensive. Emerging markets can also make use of district cooling, an approach that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which consists of six Middle Eastern countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman — have successfully adopted.

The Skeleton Creek project will be located in three Oklahoma counties

Enel Green Power North America announced on Thursday that it has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) between its subsidiary White Cloud Wind Project, LLC and Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI), a power utility based in Springfield, Missouri. In line with the agreement, AECI will purchase the entire output generated by the 236.5 MW White Cloud wind project, currently in development in Nodaway County, Missouri.

The Skeleton Creek project will be located in three Oklahoma counties

The SFO finally issues long-awaited definitive guidance as to the expectations for corporate defendants seeking to gain cooperation credit The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the UK authority responsible for prosecuting and investigating serious or com...

The French Competition Authority (FCA) is entitled to give advisory opinions on any competition matter, in particular for the attention  of the French Government and the Parliament. The FCA has been recently asked to give its opinion on coopera...

(MENAFN - Jordan News Agency) Amman, May 9 (Petra) �� Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Wissam Rabadi Saturday discussed with British... ......

(MENAFN - Jordan News Agency) Amman, May 9 (Petra)- Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Dr. Wissam Rabadi, discussed with the British ... ......

Jay Collins is Vice Chairman Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory, Citigroup*

The post Only Sustainable Investment & Global Cooperation Can Counter COVID’s Blow to SDGs appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Denmark is Education Cannot Wait’s (ECW) third largest donor, with US$79.1 million in contributions to date. In this insightful interview with Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation, Rasmus Prehn, we explore the importance of girls’ education and gender equality, the humanitarian-development nexus, expanded engagement with the private sector, education in emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic […]

The post The Power of Education in Emergencies: Interview with Denmark’s Minister of Development Cooperation Rasmus Prehn appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Manssour Bin Mussallam, is Secretary General-elect of the Organisation of Educational Cooperation (OEC)

The post The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Reinvention of the Spirit of Solidarity and Cooperation appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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The historic spirit of cross-border trade in Central Asia is being revived in the energy sector.

ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa and AFD Chief Executive Officer Rémy Rioux held discussions today on strengthening the partnership between ADB and AFD to respond to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

ONGOING EVALUATION. : This evaluation will assess the performance of the Regional Cooperation and Integration Fund (RCIF) against its establishment objectives and provide recommendations for its future directions.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Senior Regional Cooperation Specialist in the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department. The deadline for submitting applications is on 18 May 2020.

Energy security is a nation’s ability to meet the energy needs of its inhabitants uninterruptedly at an affordable price.

Trade facilitation, by reducing trade costs and raising the efficiency of moving goods across borders, is integral to international trade.

The global financial architecture should focus on providing short-term lending facilities to improve the efficiency of developing projects.

Energy security is a nation’s ability to meet the energy needs of its inhabitants uninterruptedly at an affordable price.

ABSTRACT

The global stress response controlled by the alternative sigma factor RpoS protects enteric bacteria from a variety of environmental stressors. The role of RpoS in other, nonenteric bacteria, such as the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is less well understood. Here, we employed experimental social evolution to reveal that cooperative behavior via secreted public goods is an important function in the RpoS response of P. aeruginosa. Using whole-genome sequencing, we identified rpoS loss-of-function mutants among isolates evolved in a protein growth medium that requires extracellular proteolysis. We found that rpoS mutants comprise up to 25% of the evolved population and that they behave as social cheaters, with low fitness in isolation but high fitness in mixed culture with the cooperating wild type. We conclude that rpoS mutants cheat because they exploit an RpoS-controlled public good produced by the wild type, the secreted aminopeptidase PaAP, and because they do not carry the metabolic costs of expressing PaAP and many other gene products in the large RpoS regulon. Our results suggest that PaAP is an integral part of a proteolytic sequence in P. aeruginosa that permits the utilization of protein as a nutrient source. Our work broadens the scope of stress response functions in bacteria.

IMPORTANCE Bacterial stress responses are generally considered protective measures taken by individual cells. Enabled by an experimental evolution approach, we describe a contrasting property, collective nutrient acquisition, in the RpoS-dependent stress response of the opportunistic human pathogen P. aeruginosa. Specifically, we identify the secreted P. aeruginosa aminopeptidase (PaAP) as an essential RpoS-controlled function in extracellular proteolysis. As a secreted "public good," PaAP permits cheating by rpoS mutants that save the metabolic costs of expressing RpoS-controlled genes dispensable under the given growth conditions. Proteolytic enzymes are important virulence factors in P. aeruginosa pathogenesis and constitute a potential target for antimicrobial therapy. More broadly, our work contributes to recent findings in higher organisms that stress affects not only individual fitness and competitiveness but also cooperative behavior.

Nuclear import of viral genomes is an important step during the life cycle of adenoviruses (AdV), requiring soluble cellular factors as well as proteins of the nuclear pore complex (NPC). We addressed the role of the cytoplasmic nucleoporin Nup358 during adenoviral genome delivery by performing depletion/reconstitution experiments and time-resolved quantification of adenoviral genome import. Nup358-depleted cells displayed reduced efficiencies of nuclear import of adenoviral genomes, and the nuclear import receptor transportin 1 became rate limiting under these conditions. Furthermore, we identified a minimal N-terminal region of Nup358 that was sufficient to compensate for the import defect. Our data support a model where Nup358 functions as an assembly platform that promotes the formation of transport complexes, allowing AdV to exploit a physiological protein import pathway for accelerated transport of its DNA.

IMPORTANCE Nuclear import of viral genomes is an essential step to initiate productive infection for several nuclear replicating DNA viruses. On the other hand, DNA is not a physiological nuclear import substrate; consequently, viruses have to exploit existing physiological transport routes. Here, we show that adenoviruses use the nucleoporin Nup358 to increase the efficiency of adenoviral genome import. In its absence, genome import efficiency is reduced and the transport receptor transportin 1 becomes rate limiting. We show that the N-terminal half of Nup358 is sufficient to drive genome import and identify a transportin 1 binding region. In our model, adenovirus genome import exploits an existing protein import pathway and Nup358 serves as an assembly platform for transport complexes.

Glycine riboswitches utilize both single- and tandem-aptamer architectures. In the tandem system, the relative contribution of each aptamer toward gene regulation is not well understood. To dissect these contributions, the effects of 684 single mutants of a tandem ON switch from Bacillus subtilis were characterized for the wild-type construct and binding site mutations that selectively restrict ligand binding to either the first or second aptamer. Despite the structural symmetry of tandem aptamers, the response to these mutations was frequently asymmetrical. Mutations in the first aptamer often significantly weakened the K_1/2, while several mutations in the second aptamer improved the amplitude. These results demonstrate that this ON switch favors ligand binding to the first aptamer. This is in contrast to the tandem OFF switch variant from Vibrio cholerae, which was previously shown to have preferential binding to its second aptamer. A bioinformatic analysis of tandem glycine riboswitches revealed that the two binding pockets are differentially conserved between ON and OFF switches. Altogether, this indicates that tandem ON switch variants preferentially utilize binding to the first aptamer to promote helical switching, while OFF switch variants favor binding to the second aptamer. The data set also revealed a cooperative glycine response when both binding pockets were maximally stabilized with three GC base pairs. This indicates a cooperative response may sometimes be obfuscated by a difference in the affinities of the two aptamers. This conditional cooperativity provides an additional layer of tunability to tandem glycine riboswitches that adds to their versatility as genetic switches.

The quinoprotein glycine oxidase from the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea (PlGoxA) uses a protein-derived cysteine tryptophylquinone (CTQ) cofactor to catalyze conversion of glycine to glyoxylate and ammonia. This homotetrameric enzyme exhibits strong cooperativity toward glycine binding. It is a good model for studying enzyme kinetics and cooperativity, specifically for being able to separate those aspects of protein function through directed mutagenesis. Variant proteins were generated with mutations in four active-site residues, Phe-316, His-583, Tyr-766, and His-767. Structures for glycine-soaked crystals were obtained for each. Different mutations had differential effects on kcat and K0.5 for catalysis, K0.5 for substrate binding, and the Hill coefficients describing the steady-state kinetics or substrate binding. Phe-316 and Tyr-766 variants retained catalytic activity, albeit with altered kinetics and cooperativity. Substitutions of His-583 revealed that it is essential for glycine binding, and the structure of H583C PlGoxA had no active-site glycine present in glycine-soaked crystals. The structure of H767A PlGoxA revealed a previously undetected reaction intermediate, a carbinolamine product-reduced CTQ adduct, and exhibited only negligible activity. The results of these experiments, as well as those with the native enzyme and previous variants, enabled construction of a detailed mechanism for the reductive half-reaction of glycine oxidation. This proposed mechanism includes three discrete reaction intermediates that are covalently bound to CTQ during the reaction, two of which have now been structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography.

Parsons stars in Ryan Murphy's new Netflix series, Hollywood

Anderson Cooper says he and ex-partner Benjamin Maisani are not back together, but they will co-parent new baby Wyatt Morgan Cooper.

"Whether it is in counterterrorism, counter-narcotics, money laundering, smuggling or combating international organized crime, Spain has long been and will continue to be a strong partner for the United States," said Attorney General Holder.

The United States has entered into a comprehensive, cooperative agreement with Cook County, Ill., and the Cook County Sheriff that resolves previous findings of unconstitutional conditions at the Cook County Jail.

"This new initiative is an important step forward in addressing our shared concerns, advancing our common interests, and strengthening our collective commitment to protect our citizens from crime, violence, trafficking, and terror," said Attorney General Holder.

Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative Inc., an Indiana electric generation and transmission cooperative, has agreed to install state-of-the-art pollution control technology at its two coal-fired power plants in Indiana.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), Maricopa County, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for refusing full cooperation with the department’s investigation of alleged national origin discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, today signed an antitrust cooperation agreement with the Chilean antitrust agency on behalf of the Department of Justice.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Italian Minister of Justice Angelino Alfano today met at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., to re-affirm the joint commitment of the United States and Italy to strengthen cooperation in the ongoing fight against terrorism and transnational organized crime.

A settlement has been reached with Hecla Mining Company to resolve one of the largest cases ever filed under the Superfund statute. Under the settlement, Hecla will pay $263.4 million plus interest to the United States, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the state of Idaho to resolve claims stemming from releases of wastes from its mining operations.

"In this time of uncommon challenges and evolving threats, our allegiance to these values – of liberty, privacy, opportunity, and justice – and the achievement of our collective security goals – have never been more important, or more urgent," said Attorney General Holder.

A former New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) officer was sentenced today to serve five years in prison for his role in covering up a police-involved shooting that occurred on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

The International Competition Network (ICN) launched and approved three new initiatives on international enforcement cooperation, the investigative process in competition cases and working with the courts.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a Clean Air Act settlement with Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC) that will cover the utility’s three power plants in Alma and Genoa, Wis. DPC has agreed to invest approximately $150 million in pollution control technology that will protect public health and resolve violations of the Clean Air Act.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced today – Dec. 28, 2012 – a settlement of the United States’ federal court lawsuit against Custer County and the State of Idaho concerning county action on roads and trails on federal land in Custer County.

Colorado-based CH2M Hill Hanford Group Inc. (CHG) and its parent company, CH2M Hill Companies Ltd. (CH2M Hill) have agreed that CHG committed federal criminal violations, defrauding the public by engaging in years of widespread time card fraud.

The International Competition Network advanced convergence through important initiatives on international enforcement cooperation and investigative processes in competition cases.