Beyond sustainable buildings: eco-efficiency to eco-effectiveness through cradle-to-cradle design

Sustainable building development focuses on achieving buildings that meet performance and functionality requirements with minimum adverse impact on the environment. Such eco-efficiency strategies are however not feasible for achieving long-term economic and environmental objectives as they only result in damage reduction without addressing design flaws of contemporary industry. The cradle-to-cradle (C2C) design philosophy which has been described as a paradigm changing innovative platform for achieving ecologically intelligent and environmentally restorative buildings appears to offer an alternative vision which, if embraced, could lead to eco-effectiveness and the achievement of long-term environmental objectives. Adoption of C2C principles in the built environment has however been hindered by several factors especially in a sector where change has always been a very slow process. From a review of extant literature, it is argued that the promotion of current sustainable and/or gree n building strategies - which in themselves are not coherent enough due to their pluralistic meanings and sometimes differing solutions - are a major barrier to the promotion of C2C principles in the built environment. To overcome this barrier to C2C implementation, it is recommended that research should focus on developing clearly defined and measurable C2C targets that can be incorporated into project briefs from the inception of development projects. These targets could enable control, monitoring and comparison of C2C design outcomes with eco-efficient measures as well as serve as a guide for project stakeholders to achieve eco-effective “nutrient” management from the project conceptualization phase to the end of life of the building

Exploring the diversity of promoter and 5’UTR sequences in ancestral, historic and modern wheat

A dataset of promoter and 5’UTR sequences of homoeo-alleles of 495 wheat genes that contribute to agriculturally important traits in 95 ancestral and commercial wheat cultivars is presented here. The high stringency myBaits technology used made individual capture of homoeo-allele promoters possible, which is reported here for the first time. Promoters of most genes are remarkably conserved across the 82 hexaploid cultivars used with <7 haplotypes per promoter and 21% being identical to the reference Chinese Spring. InDels and many high-confidence SNPs are located within predicted plant transcription factor binding sites, potentially changing gene expression. Most haplotypes found in the Watkins landraces and a few haplotypes found in T. monococcum, germplasms hitherto not thought to have been used in modern wheat breeding, are already found in many commercial hexaploid wheats. The full dataset which is useful for genomic and gene function studies and wheat breeding is available at https://rrescloud.rothamsted.ac.uk/index.php/s/3vc9QopcqYEbIUs/authenticate

The valuation tool user guide: monetizing Cradle to Cradle®

This User Guide outlines the object, scope and expected deliverables from the Valuation Tool component of the Cradle to Cradle ® C2C BIZZ project. It describes the compendium of subtools that have been developed comprising: i) overview of funding tools; ii) C2C investment appraisal tool; and iii) C2C value indexing tool. The underpinning methodologies, as well as their inherent strengths and limitations are also described. The C2C BIZZ project as a whole aims specifically to promote and enhance the implementation of C2C methods in business site development within North Western Europe (NWE) (PAD, p.14). It is intended to infuse C2C notions into conventional site development, restructuring and management. The primary focus of the project is on planning, building and managing of business sites with C2C credentials (PAD, p.18) using sites in Lille Metropole (La Lainiere), London (London Sustainable Industries Park) and Luxemburg (Ecoparc Windhof) as experimental fields. C2C BIZZ is not concerned with the internal operations and activities of occupiers or users of the developed site. Accordingly, the scope of the valuation tool is confined to the planning, building and management of C2C sites. The deliverable from this component is a compendium of subtools (see Figure 1 below) that may be used to analyse the financial performance of C2C credentials in business sites to aid the making of a business case for such developments and evaluating the financial incentives for particular C2C site development projects. This entire work is premised on the argument that the wider adoption of C2C principles within the built environment depends on the rate of uptake by the private sector. The private sector, being profit driven, are likely to engage in C2C site development if they are convinced of its capacity to contribute to their business goals which ultimately is a return on their investment. The tool development described in this document attempts to provide a framework for collating an evidence base that can assist in articulating the business case for C2C in business site developments

Making in-class skills training more effective: the scope for interactive videos to complement the delivery of practical pedestrian training

Skills and awareness of young pedestrians can be improved with on-street practical pedestrian training, often delivered in schools in the United Kingdom by local authorities with the intention of improving road safety. This training is often supplemented by in-class paper based worksheet activities which are seen to be less effective than practical training in that they focus on knowledge acquisition rather than directly improving the correct application of safe pedestrian skills at the roadside. Previous research indicates that interactive video tools have the potential to develop procedural skills whilst offering an engaging road safety educational experience, which could positively impact on road crossing behaviour.In this paper, the design and development of a hazard-identification interactive road safety training video targeting child road crossing skills is presented. The interactive video was shown to be an engaging training resource for 6-7 year old children. The tool’s scope for improving pedestrians’ roadside skills is considered along with the wider implications for interactive video to aid safety training in other areas

Proteinaceous effector discovery and characterisation in filamentous plant pathogens

The complicated interplay of plant-pathogen interactions occurs on multiple levels as pathogens evolve to constantly evade the immune responses of their hosts. Many economically important crops fall victim to filamentous pathogens which produce small proteins called effectors to manipulate the host and aid infection/colonisation. Understanding the effector repertoires of pathogens is facilitating an increased understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying virulence as well as guiding the development of disease control strategies. The purpose of this review is to give a chronological perspective on the evolution of the methodologies used in effector discovery from physical isolation and in silico predictions, to functional characterisation of the effectors of filamentous plant pathogens and identification of their host targets

Apoplastic and vascular defences

The apoplast comprises the intercellular space between cell membranes, includes the xylem, and extends to the rhizoplane and the outer surfaces of the plant. The apoplast plays roles in different biological processes including plant immunity. This highly specialised space is often the first place where pathogen recognition occurs, and this then triggers the immune response. The immune response in the apoplast involves different mechanisms that restrict pathogen infection. Among these responses, secretion of different molecules like proteases, proteins related to immunity, small RNAs and secondary metabolites play important and often additive or synergistic roles. In addition, production of reactive oxygen species occurs to cause direct deleterious effects on the pathogen as well as reinforce the plant’s immune response by triggering modifications to cell wall composition and providing additional defence signalling capabilities. The pool of available sugar in the apoplast also plays a role in immunity. These sugars can be manipulated by both interactors, pathogens gaining access to nutrients whilst the plant’s responses restrict the pathogen’s access to nutrients. In this review, we describe the latest findings in the field to highlight the importance of the apoplast in plant – pathogen interactions and plant immunity. We also indicate where new discoveries are needed

The calibration of photographic and spectroscopic films: 1: A microscopic analysis of IIaO films. 2: The effects of agitation and soaking on IIaO films. 3: The effects of electric field on IIaO films. 4: The effects of X-ray radiation on IIaO films

The grain structure of the emulsion using both reflected and transmission light was examined along with the effects of soaking. The effect of a static charge by a Tesla-coil, and the effects of airport equipment, and dental X-rays on the film were also analyzed