Protein structural changes induced by external perturbations or internal cues can profoundly influence protein activity and thus modulate cellular physiology. A number of biophysical approaches are available to probe protein structural changes, but these are not applicable to a whole proteome in a biological extract. Limited proteolysis-coupled mass spectrometry (LiP-MS) is a recently developed proteomics approach that enables the identification of protein structural changes directly in their complex biological context on a proteome-wide scale. After perturbations of interest, proteome extracts are subjected to a double-protease digestion step with a nonspecific protease applied under native conditions, followed by complete digestion with the sequence-specific protease trypsin under denaturing conditions. This sequential treatment generates structure-specific peptides amenable to bottom-up MS analysis. Next, a proteomics workflow involving shotgun or targeted MS and label-free quantification is applied to measure structure-dependent proteolytic patterns directly in the proteome extract. Possible applications of LiP-MS include discovery of perturbation-induced protein structural alterations, identification of drug targets, detection of disease-associated protein structural states, and analysis of protein aggregates directly in biological samples. The approach also enables identification of the specific protein regions involved in the structural transition or affected by the binding event. Sample preparation takes approximately 2 d, followed by one to several days of MS and data analysis time, depending on the number of samples analyzed. Scientists with basic biochemistry training can implement the sample preparation steps. MS measurement and data analysis require a background in proteomics.

The active involvement of local residents in development projects has become a keystone in current rural governance arrangements in the European Union. The latter’s rural development programme LEADER is an example of this, as it requests local residents to take action in the development process. Yet, despite the strong emphasis on ‘participation’ in policy texts and rhetoric, there is only a formalistic definition of what ‘participation’ as involvement and activation of local residents actually means and how it should be put into practice. Drawing on data gathered during ethnographic fieldwork in two LEADER regions and the insights of practice and performance theory, this article argues that because of this indeterminacy, ‘participation’ as a social practice must first be realised and defined in a performative way, i.e., it must be practiced, negotiated and legitimised in specific physical‐spatial settings. These settings serve as local arenas of participatory rural governance in which local residents are activated and involved in the implementation of LEADER projects. Assuming certain roles and carrying out specific activities related to material artefacts, they negotiate the meaning of ‘participation’ as a social practice.

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This paper presents a coincident and a leading composite monthly indicator for the world business cycle—the Global Economic Barometers. Both target the world’s output growth rate and consist of economic tendency surveys results from many countries around the world. The calculation of these indicators comprises two main stages. The first consists of a variable selection procedure, in which a pre-set correlation threshold and the targeted leads to the reference series are used as selection criteria. In the second stage, the selected variables are combined and transformed into the respective composite indicators, computed as the first partial least squares factor with the reference series as response variable. We analyse the characteristics of the two new indicators in a pseudo real-time setting and demonstrate that both are useful additions to the small number of indicators for the global business cycle published so far. Finally, yet importantly, the Barometers were quick to plunge in the beginning of March 2020 and have since then given a reliable real-time reflection of the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.