Grease to the wheel or a spanner in the works? An investigation of office and industrial occupier displacement and property market filtering in Tyne & Wear using the chaining technique

The research uses a chaining technique to study the scale and impact of the displacement of office and industrial occupiers in the Tyne and Wear conurbation. The status and origin of occupiers of 20 office and industrial developments, promoted or assisted by the public sector, have been recorded to determine the distance that they have moved and the number of net new jobs generated. Property chaining reveals the extent to which the filtering effect has resulted in reoccupation of buildings and permits the quantification of the amount of property remaining vacant and its location. Analysis of the recorded chains has revealed that more than half of all occupiers on assisted schemes have relocated within the Tyne and Wear area and one in three occupier chains generated by such relocations result in vacant property elsewhere within the metropolitan area. The displacement of employment and economic activity within the conurbation can be mapped and could be used to inform the action of public agencies to reduce or ameliorate the negative side-effects of their intervention. The chaining technique proves an elegantly simple and robust technique by which to determine the scale and distribution of occupier displacement in property markets

Spatialising Photographic Archives

Recent computer research allows previously unforeseen analysis of photographic archives. For multiple shots of a scene, new digital techniques permit (1) the recovery of the location and angle, in 3D, of the camera that took each shot and (2) the reconstruction, in 3D, of much of the geometry of the original location. While the underlying algorithms of this approach are open source, the only available front-end to them is closed and proprietary. In this project, we will develop an open-source platform for experimentation with archives not previously thought of as 3D data-sets. As a constructive proof, we will analyze and re-interpret a key historical event as documented by a photojournalist, tying the spatial and visual components of the resulting data-set to contemporaneous text sources (news articles, etc) to form a uniquely hybrid form of scholarship. We will express these results in forms available to the computer science, visual arts, and photo-journalistic communities

Grease to the wheel or a spanner in the works? : an investigation of office and industrial occupier displacement and property market filtering generated by public sector assisted property developments : a case study of Tyne and Wear

The thesis is a study of property occupier displacement generated by the supply of new office and industrial accommodation that has been promoted or assisted by property-led regeneration policies. A review of literature revealed that there had been little in-depth investigation of the phenomenon of occupier displacement and the filtering effect associated with it. A flow model was developed to illustrate the incidence of occupier displacement and the process of property market filtering. There are two main strands to the research (see Figure 1.1), firstly an exploration of the property chains generated by the displacement of office and industrial occupiers in response the supply of new accommodation, and secondly, an investigation of the reasons why office and industrial occupiers relocate and how they determine where to move to. Three phases of research were employed to record the displacement generated by twenty public sector assisted office and industrial developments in the Tyne and Wear conurbation. Occupiers of twenty developments were identified by site inspections and a total population questionnaire survey was undertaken, complemented by a telephone survey, to record the status and origin of over 500 property occupiers and allow the property chains to be pursued. The chaining exercise revealed the scale of displacement or relocation and the outcome of the resulting chains. The origin of first move occupiers and chain-ends was plotted to reveal their spatial distribution. The research recorded that over half of all occupiers had relocated and over a third of chains generated by such moves, resulted in vacant property elsewhere in the conurbation. Structured interviews with 29 office and industrial occupiers were undertaken to investigate their locational decisions and the factors that influenced their outcome, the results of which were triangulated with the earlier research phases to reveal ten key themes that fundamentally determine such decisions. The originality of the research is the scale and rigour of the chaining survey, the mapping of the spatial distribution of the origin of occupiers and the chain-ends, and the pursuit of understanding of how occupiers respond to the availability of new accommodation. The scale occupier displacement, generated by new office and industrial accommodation, is significant, but by stimulating property market excitation and vacancy a filtering effect is set-up that can generate positive benefits to a local economy by allowing occupiers to expand.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Stable individual variation in ventral spotting patterns in Phyllomedusa trinitatis (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) and other Phyllomedusa species: a minimally invasive method for recognizing individuals

Variação individual estável no padrão de manchas ventrais em Phyllomedusa trinitatis (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) e em outras espécies de Phyllomedusa: um método minimamente invasivo para o reconhecimento de indivíduos. Descrevemos aqui um padrão distintivo de “ilhas” e pontos brancos individualmente variáveis nas superfícies ventrais das regiões da garganta e do antebraço de machos e fêmeas de Phyllomedusa trinitatis. Crucialmente, a partir de indivíduos criados em cativeiro relatamos que esses padrões são ontogeneticamente estáveis. Usamos esses padrões para reconhecer pererecas individuais em populações de 60 ou mais indivíduos. O exame das superfícies ventrais de outras espécies de Phyllomedusa em espécimes de museus e de relatos publicados sugere que o uso desses padrões fornece um método de reconhecimento minimamente invasivo e geralmente útil nesse gênero. Descobrimos que espécies anteriormente classifcadas como Phyllomedusa, mas agora consideradas pertencentes a diferentes gêneros, não possuem esses padrões.Stable individual variation in ventral spotting patterns in Phyllomedusa trinitatis (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) and other Phyllomedusa species: a minimally invasive method for recognizing individuals. We describe a distinctive pattern of individually variable white ‘islands’ and dots on the ventral surfaces of the throat and forearm regions of male and female Phyllomedusa trinitatis. Crucially, we report from captive-reared individuals that these patterns are ontogenetically stable. We have used these patterns to recognize individual frogs in populations of 60 and more. Examination of the ventral surfaces of other Phyllomedusa species in museum specimens and from published accounts suggests that use of these patterns provides a generally useful, minimally invasive recognition method in this genus. We fnd that species previously classed as Phyllomedusa but now regarded as belonging to different genera lack these patterns

The first assessment of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in amphibian populations in the Kanuku Mountains Protected Area of Guyana

- Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a fungal pathogen threatening hundreds of amphibian species with extinction across the globe, especially in Latin America. Extensive investigations have revealed the presence of Bd in many South American countries, but there has been a lack of such research conducted in Guyana. We assessed the presence of Bd in the amphibian populations of the Kanuku Mountains Protected Area, in the south-west of the country. We swabbed two hundred and fifty anurans and processed the samples using standard Polymerase Chain Reaction analysis to identify cutaneous presence of Bd, making this the most comprehensive investigation into the existence of Bd in Guyana. All samples were negative for the presence of Bd DNA. Given the presence of Bd in countries neighbouring Guyana, and the severe declines it has caused in amphibian populations, we consider Guyana to be under severe threat. We advocate further surveillance in Guyana to fully determine the presence or absence of Bd, and we emphasise the importance of biosecurity and monitoring in mitigating a potential outbreak of this fungal pathogen

Elevated plasma triglyceride concentration and risk of adverse clinical outcomes in 1.5 million people: a CALIBER linked electronic health record study

BACKGROUND: Assessing the spectrum of disease risk associated with hypertriglyceridemia is needed to inform potential benefits from emerging triglyceride lowering treatments. We sought to examine the associations between a full range of plasma triglyceride concentration with five clinical outcomes. METHODS: We used linked data from primary and secondary care for 15 M people, to explore the association between triglyceride concentration and risk of acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, new onset diabetes, myocardial infarction and all-cause mortality, over a median of 6-7 years follow up. RESULTS: Triglyceride concentration was available for 1,530,411 individuals (mean age 56·6 ± 15·6 years, 51·4% female), with a median of 1·3 mmol/L (IQR: 0.9.to 1.9). Severe hypertriglyceridemia, defined as > 10 mmol/L, was identified in 3289 (0·21%) individuals including 620 with > 20 mmol/L. In multivariable analyses, a triglyceride concentration > 20 mmol/L was associated with very high risk for acute pancreatitis (Hazard ratio (HR) 13·55 (95% CI 9·15-20·06)); chronic pancreatitis (HR 25·19 (14·91-42·55)); and high risk for diabetes (HR 5·28 (4·51-6·18)) and all-cause mortality (HR 3·62 (2·82-4·65)) when compared to the reference category of ≤ 1·7 mmol/L. An association with myocardial infarction, however, was only observed for more moderate hypertriglyceridaemia between 1.7 and 10 mmol/L. We found a risk interaction with age, with higher risks for all outcomes including mortality among those ≤ 40 years compared to > 40 years. CONCLUSIONS: We highlight an exponential association between severe hypertriglyceridaemia and risk of incident acute and chronic pancreatitis, new diabetes, and mortality, especially at younger ages, but not for myocardial infarction for which only moderate hypertriglyceridemia conferred risk

Posttranscriptional Regulation of 14q32 microRNAs by RNA Binding Proteins CIRBP and HADHB during Vascular Regeneration after Ischemia:Posttranscriptional regulation of 14q32 microRNAs

After induction of ischemia in mice, 14q32 microRNAs are regulated in three distinct temporal patterns. These expression patterns, as well as basal expression levels, are independent of the microRNA genes’ order in the 14q32 locus. This implies that posttranscriptional processing is a major determinant of 14q32 microRNA expression. Therefore, we hypothesized that RNA binding proteins (RBPs) regulate posttranscriptional processing of 14q32, and we aimed to identify these RBPs. To identify proteins responsible for this posttranscriptional regulation, we used RNA pull-down SILAC mass spectrometry (RP-SMS) on selected precursor microRNAs. We observed differential binding of cold-inducible RBP (CIRBP) and hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase trifunctional multienzyme complex subunit beta (HADHB) to the precursors of late-upregulated miR-329-3p and unaffected miR-495-3p. Immunohistochemical staining confirmed expression of both CIRBP and HADHB in the adductor muscle of mice. Expression of both CIRBP and HADHB was upregulated after hindlimb ischemia in mice. Using RBP immunoprecipitation experiments, we showed specific binding of CIRBP to pre-miR-329 but not to pri-miR-329. Finally, using CRISPR/Cas9, we generated HADHB−/− 3T3 cells, which display reduced expression of miR-329 and miR-495 but not their precursors. These data suggest a novel role for CIRBP and HADHB in posttranscriptional regulation of 14q32 microRNAs. Keywords: microRNA, 14q32, microRNA cluster, miR-329, miR-495, HADHB, CIRBP, RNA binding proteins, ischemia, hindlimb ischemia mode