London's brownfield resource pilot project: the Wandle Valley

Brownfields are abandoned or under-utilised areas normally within the urban core of a city. These sites are generally areas that have previously been built-on, yet have become derelict or have fallen into disrepair. Some sites may be contaminated. Typically, when developers and other organisations have an interest in a brownfield site, they must perform an extensive information search to determine its planning and environmental status. An information search of this type could take days, weeks, or even months to compile. With a geographic information system (GIS), this search could take a matter of minutes, and be displayed in an easy to understand graphical or map form. This project aimed to develop a pilot system for the Wandle Valley, covering the London boroughs of Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton and Croydon. The ArcView GIS was used to assemble, store, manipulate, and display geographically referenced information relating to brownfield sites and their locality, i.e. shopping areas, public transport routes. This system has been created to encourage more sustainable and environmentally friendly development of brownfield sites. This was done using an iterative development approach supported by a series of four seminars and a public participation workshop. The main findings of the research relate to the results of the public participation workshop and the success of the system. The results of the workshop show that most people saw the system as of real value to the planning process as it would help make it more iterative. The system was an overall success because it allowed for the integration of different data sets not seen previously in the brownfield debate. Also because a GIS was used updating the system would be efficient. However, some problems were highlighted in regard to public access and updating and accuracy of the information on the system

The use of GIS in Brownfield redevelopment

In recent years, the issue of Brownfield site development - the re-use of previously used urban land - has gained a significant place in the planning agenda. However, not all Brownfield sites are derelict or contaminated land, some are significant as environmental amenities - be it part of wider ecosystem or a green area for the local population. The growing concern to include environmental aspects into the public debate have lead the Environment Agency, the Jackson Environment Institute and the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis to commission a short term pilot study to evaluate the contribution of a GIS for decision support and for "discussion support".In this paper, we describe how the state-of-the-art in geographic information (GI) and GI Science (GISc) can be used in a short term and limited project to achieve a practical and usable system. We are drawing on developments in information availability, as made accessible through the World Wide Web and research themes in GISc ranging from Multimedia GIS to Public Participation GIS

In Situ Visualization of Block Copolymer Self-Assembly in Organic Media by Super-Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy

Analytical methods that enable visualization of nanomaterials derived from solution self‐assembly processes in organic solvents are highly desirable. Herein, we demonstrate the use of stimulated emission depletion microscopy (STED) and single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) to map living crystallization‐driven block copolymer (BCP) self‐assembly in organic media at the sub‐diffraction scale. Four different dyes were successfully used for single‐colour super‐resolution imaging of the BCP nanostructures allowing micelle length distributions to be determined in situ. Dual‐colour SMLM imaging was used to measure and compare the rate of addition of red fluorescent BCP to the termini of green fluorescent seed micelles to generate block comicelles. Although well‐established for aqueous systems, the results highlight the potential of super‐resolution microscopy techniques for the interrogation of self‐assembly processes in organic media

Uniform patchy and hollow rectangular platelet micelles from crystallizable polymer blends

Growing patterned rectangular objects The growth of patterned objects usually requires a template to aid the positioning of multiple materials. Qiu et al. used the seeded growth of a crystallizable block copolymer and a homopolymer to produce highly uniform rectangular structures (see the Perspective by Ballauff). Chemical etching, or dissolution, of uncross-linked regions of the rectangular structures produced perforated platelet micelles. The sequential addition of different blends and cross-linking/dissolution strategies allowed the formation of well-defined hollow rectangular micelles, which can be functionalized in a variety of ways. Science , this issue p. 697 ; see also p. 656 </jats:p

“Cross” Supermicelles via the Hierarchical Assembly of Amphiphilic Cylindrical Triblock Comicelles

Self-assembled “cross” architectures are well-known in biological systems (as illustrated by chromosomes, for example); however, comparable synthetic structures are extremely rare. Herein we report an in depth study of the hierarchical assembly of the amphiphilic cylindrical P–H–P triblock comicelles with polar (P) coronal ends and a hydrophobic (H) central periphery in a selective solvent for the terminal segments which allows access to “cross” supermicelles under certain conditions. Well-defined P–H–P triblock comicelles M­(PFS-<i>b</i>-PtBA)-<i>b</i>-M­(PFS-<i>b</i>-PDMS)-<i>b</i>-M­(PFS-<i>b</i>-PtBA) (M = micelle segment, PFS = polyferrocenyldimethylsilane, PtBA = poly­(<i>tert</i>-butyl acrylate), and PDMS = polydimethylsiloxane) were created by the living crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) method. By manipulating two factors in the supermicelles, namely the H segment-solvent interfacial energy (through the central H segment length, <i>L</i>₁) and coronal steric effects (via the PtBA corona chain length in the P segment, <i>L</i>₂ related to the degree of polymerization DP₂) the aggregation of the triblock comicelles could be finely tuned. This allowed a phase-diagram to be constructed that can be extended to other triblock comicelles with different coronas on the central or end segment where “cross” supermicelles were exclusively formed under predicted conditions. Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) analysis of dye-labeled “cross” supermicelles, and block “cross” supermicelles formed by addition of a different unimer to the arm termini, provided complementary characterization to transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) and confirmed the existence of these “cross” supermicelles as kinetically stable, micron-size colloidally stable structures in solution

Monodisperse Cylindrical Micelles and Block Comicelles of Controlled Length in Aqueous Media

Cylindrical block copolymer micelles have shown considerable promise in various fields of biomedical research. However, unlike spherical micelles and vesicles, control over their dimensions in biologically relevant solvents has posed a key challenge that potentially limits in depth studies and their optimization for applications. Here, we report the preparation of cylindrical micelles of length in the wide range of 70 nm to 1.10 μm in aqueous media with narrow length distributions (length polydispersities <1.10). In our approach, an amphiphilic linear-brush block copolymer, with high potential for functionalization, was synthesized based on poly­(ferrocenyldimethylsilane)-<i>b</i>-poly­(allyl glycidyl ether) (PFS-<i>b</i>-PAGE) decorated with triethylene glycol (TEG), abbreviated as PFS-<i>b</i>-(PEO-<i>g</i>-TEG). PFS-<i>b</i>-(PEO-<i>g</i>-TEG) cylindrical micelles of controlled length with low polydispersities were prepared in <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>-dimethylformamide using small seed initiators via living crystallization-driven self-assembly. Successful dispersion of these micelles into aqueous media was achieved by dialysis against deionized water. Furthermore, B–A–B amphiphilic triblock comicelles with PFS-<i>b</i>-poly­(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP) as hydrophobic “B” blocks and hydrophilic PFS-<i>b</i>-(PEO-<i>g</i>-TEG) “A” segments were prepared and their hierarchical self-assembly in aqueous media studied. It was found that superstructures formed are dependent on the length of the hydrophobic blocks. Quaternization of P2VP was shown to cause the disassembly of the superstructures, resulting in the first examples of water-soluble cylindrical multiblock comicelles. We also demonstrate the ability of the triblock comicelles with quaternized terminal segments to complex DNA and, thus, to potentially function as gene vectors