The Work That Place Does: The London Landed Estates and a Curatorial Approach to Estate Management

Writings on urban development and planning in Europe have been dominated by a combination of technical studies of the real estate sector and more structural political economy approaches on land expropriation and financialisation. In this paper we draw on the example of the London Landed Estates, to critically assess how land-owning real estate companies, that we call cityowners, perform their roles and what models and knowledge sources they draw upon in managing and carefully curating urban spaces and places. Data sources include interviews with Estate Managers, others involved in, or affected by their management, and other corporate public information. Our theoretical framing draws on performativity theory that we see as a valuable addition to existing research approaches. We describe and analyse the ways these agencies construct narratives and practices of socially responsible and historically established forms of performance, that they label ‘place-stewardship’, and the specific mechanisms they use to bring places into existence. Collectively, the discussion calls for an increased focus on how models abstracted from local context and politics can be ‘localised’, in the study of the governance of the built environment. Greater attention also needs to be paid to the work that place does in influencing the strategies, tactics, and activities of property owners

Hard, soft and thin governance spaces in land-use change: comparing office-to-residential conversions in England, Scotland and the Netherlands

In recent years, converting office buildings to residential use became a high-profile issue in the UK and in the Netherlands. There has, however, been differentiation in the policy response between England and Scotland (planning policy being devolved within the UK), and the Netherlands. We conceptualize this differentiation through the lens of variegated neoliberalism in the forms of hard, soft and thin governance spaces. England, where planning deregulation is more strongly adopted, represents a thin governance space. Scotland, where there has been little policy change, illustrates a hard governance space. The Netherlands represents a soft governance space, where proactive partnerships between government and developers predominate. This paper characterizes these distinct governance spaces and explores their impact on housing delivery and place-making, and the impact of underlying ideologies and planning culture(s) in governing office-to-residential conversions in the three countries. Drawing on national government assessments and statistics, interviews with stakeholders, and case study data from three cities: Leeds, Glasgow and Rotterdam, we conclude that while both hard and soft governance spaces, to different degrees and with different merits, are environments that enable planning, thin governance spaces – being driven more by ideology than notions of good governance – imply weak planning and place-making

Research into the quality standard of homes delivered through change of use permitted development rights

The report provides the findings of independent research into the quality standard of homes delivered through certain national permitted development rights for the change of use. The research considers the quality of homes delivered in 11 case study areas in England in respect of size, amenity, location and design, drawing out the differences between homes delivered through permitted development compared with planning applications

Análise Retrospetiva Sobre a Utilização em Contexto Real do Ranibizumab em Doentes com Degenerescência Macular da Idade Exsudativa em Portugal

INTRODUCTION: Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy has revolutionized the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration; however, it is important to monitor actual use of ranibizumab and related treatment outcomes in routine practice. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a retrospective, observational study to monitor the 2-year outcomes following ranibizumab treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration in Portugal. Patients treated between January 2009 and December 2009 were retrospectively evaluated. All decisions were made by the treating physician in accordance with their usual routine clinical practice. The primary assessment was mean change in visual acuity score using Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study or Snellen equivalent. RESULTS: A total of 128 patients with wet age-related macular degeneration were analyzed (mean age 79.4 years; mean visual acuity score 54.2 letters). Mean change in visual acuity score from baseline was -1.6 letters (n = 82) at year one and -5.1 letters (n = 72) at year two. The mean number of ranibizumab injections was 3.8 (year one) and 1.6 (year two). On average, patients attended 8.6 and 5.0 visits and optical coherence tomography was used in 75.0% of patients in year one and in 56.3% of patients in year two, respectively. DISCUSSION: Despite a relatively high number of visits, including monitoring visits and use of optical coherence tomography - guided therapy, few injections were administered and visual acuity was not improved. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that as-needed treatment resulted in under-dosing in a real-life setting in Portugal. Such limitations may also be related to increasing numbers of patients, resulting in clinic saturation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Top-Down Particle Fabrication: Control of Size and Shape for Diagnostic Imaging and Drug Delivery

This review discusses rational design of particles for use as therapeutic vectors and diagnostic imaging agent carriers. The emerging importance of both particle size and shape is considered, and the adaptation and modification of soft lithography methods to produce nanoparticles is highlighted. To this end, studies utilizing particles made via a process called Particle Replication In Non-wetting Templates (PRINT™) are discussed. In addition, insights gained into therapeutic cargo and imaging agent delivery from related types of polymer-based carriers are considered

Spectroscopy characterization of humic acids isolated from Amazonian dark earth soils (Terra Preta De Índio).

Description and morphologic characterization; Extraction, chemical fractionation and purification of the humic material; DRIFT Spectroscopy analysis

PAPULO-NODULES LOCATED TO BOTH LOWER EXTREMITIES

As doenças perfurantes caracterizam-se por eliminação transepidérmica de queratina ou de componentes do tecido conjuntivo dérmico. A dermatose perfurante adquirida atinge sobretudo doentes com diabetes mellitus (DM) e insuficiência renal crónica (IRC), especialmente sob diálise. Um doente do sexo masculino de 86 anos de idade, com antecedentes de DM2, é observado com múltiplas lesões pruriginosas, papulosas e papulo-nodulares, de coloração eritemato-violácea, com crosta central. As lesões localizavam-se a ambos os membros inferiores e tinham 2 meses de evolução. A biópsia realizada mostrou solução de continuidade epidérmica preenchida por material fibroso e células picnóticas, com eliminação de feixes de fibras de colagénio verticalizadas (coloração de Van-Gieson). O doente foi medicado com retinóide tópico, com melhoria das lesões cutâneas.Perforating diseases are characterized by transepidermal elimination of degenerated material, including collagen or elastic fibers. Acquired perforating dermatosis affects patients with diabetes mellitus or renal disease, especially under dialysis. An 86-year-old diabetic patient presents with very pruritic erythematous-violaceus papules and papulo-nodules, with a central crust. Lesions were evoluting for 2 months and were located to both lower extremities. The biopsy revealed a depression with fibrinous material and picnotic cells. Van-Gieson coloration showed elimination of vertical collagen bundles. The patient was treated with topical retinoid, with complete resolution

DualSPHysics: from fluid dynamics to multiphysics problems

DualSPHysics is a weakly compressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) Navier–Stokes solver initially conceived to deal with coastal engineering problems, especially those related to wave impact with coastal structures. Since the first release back in 2011, DualSPHysics has shown to be robust and accurate for simulating extreme wave events along with a continuous improvement in efficiency thanks to the exploitation of hardware such as graphics processing units for scientific computing or the coupling with wave propagating models such as SWASH and OceanWave3D. Numerous additional functionalities have also been included in the DualSPHysics package over the last few years which allow the simulation of fluid-driven objects. The use of the discrete element method has allowed the solver to simulate the interaction among different bodies (sliding rocks, for example), which provides a unique tool to analyse debris flows. In addition, the recent coupling with other solvers like Project Chrono or MoorDyn has been a milestone in the development of the solver. Project Chrono allows the simulation of articulated structures with joints, hinges, sliders and springs and MoorDyn allows simulating moored structures. Both functionalities make DualSPHysics especially suited for the simulation of offshore energy harvesting devices. Lately, the present state of maturity of the solver goes beyond single-phase simulations, allowing multi-phase simulations with gas–liquid and a combination of Newtonian and non-Newtonian models expanding further the capabilities and range of applications for the DualSPHysics solver. These advances and functionalities make DualSPHysics an advanced meshless solver with emphasis on free-surface flow modelling

Reply to: Soils need to be considered when assessing the impacts of land-use change on carbon sequestration

Industrial Ecolog