Quantum Privacy and Schur Product Channels

We investigate the quantum privacy properties of an important class of quantum chan-nels, by making use of a connection with Schur product matrix operations and associated correlationmatrix structures. For channels implemented by mutually commuting unitaries, which cannot priva-tise qubits encoded directly into subspaces, we nevertheless identify private algebras and subsystemsthat can be privatised by the channels. We also obtain further results by combining our analysiswith tools from the theory of quasiorthogonal operator algebras and graph theory.Comment: 11 page

The values of being in design: Towards a feminist design ontology

This article critiques the way in which contemporary western design ontology is constructed, why this affects conceptions of female creative practice and how this impacts on women’s lives. Starting with a personal account of educating female designers, the article aims to unpack the different ways in which ontologically invisible patriarchal and capitalist value systems act on us as designers, aided by processes of embodiment which are essential to design practice. It calls for the “de-designing” of our ontology as designers through feminist epistemologies and practices which keep questions about transformations, futured by design, in a state of critical plasticity by attending to socio-political, socio-economical and ecological ethics whilst keeping issues of gender exclusion at its core

Create & Connect : wearable stories

As we navigate through our lives we often collect and keep mementoes, souvenirs and found objects that remind us of significant moments, times, places and experiences. However for the vast majority of people, making and material knowledge is limited and a sense of agency with our ‘stuff’ is missing. In his book ‘The case for working with your hands’ Matthew Crawford (2009) suggests that in order to be responsible for the world and our sense of being within it we need to feel that it is intelligible and the provenance of our things need to be brought closer to home. In this workshop we explored how different material objects can be used as cultural probes in order to articulate cultural identities and values. It used contemporary studio jewellery as a device to engage participants in a dialogue about the everyday and explored how sensory experiences with the material world define who we are. Design thinking and craft knowledge were combined in a practical co-creative workshop to interrogate the emotional connections between people, materials and body adornment. It used life experiences, storytelling and narrative structures to inform the making of a wearable jewel. It focused on the following two questions: How can the intrinsic preciousness of ‘things’ often discarded (but kept) be re-appropriated through creative making? How can objects, fragments and materials be beautified and re-contextualised through design thinking and processes of craft (reclaiming, reworking, transforming and relocating)

Novel Omega-3 Fatty Acid Epoxygenase Metabolite Reduces Kidney Fibrosis.

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) monooxygenases epoxidize the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) docosahexaenoic acid into novel epoxydocosapentaenoic acids (EDPs) that have multiple biological actions. The present study determined the ability of the most abundant EDP regioisomer, 19,20-EDP to reduce kidney injury in an experimental unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) renal fibrosis mouse model. Mice with UUO developed kidney tubular injury and interstitial fibrosis. UUO mice had elevated kidney hydroxyproline content and five-times greater collagen positive fibrotic area than sham control mice. 19,20-EDP treatment to UUO mice for 10 days reduced renal fibrosis with a 40%-50% reduction in collagen positive area and hydroxyproline content. There was a six-fold increase in kidney α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) positive area in UUO mice compared to sham control mice, and 19,20-EDP treatment to UUO mice decreased α-SMA immunopositive area by 60%. UUO mice demonstrated renal epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) with reduced expression of the epithelial marker E-cadherin and elevated expression of multiple mesenchymal markers (FSP-1, α-SMA, and desmin). Interestingly, 19,20-EDP treatment reduced renal EMT in UUO by decreasing mesenchymal and increasing epithelial marker expression. Overall, we demonstrate that a novel omega-3 fatty acid metabolite 19,20-EDP, prevents UUO-induced renal fibrosis in mice by reducing renal EMT

Service design for Rural Heritage Tourism

‘i am not a tourist’. – Why collaborative service design may be the key to developing sustainable cultural & rural visitor economies, with the help of ICT, social media and crowdsourcing Abstract: This paper will outline how the practice of Service Design can facilitate the creation of sustainable cultural and rural visitor economies, with the help of ICT, social media and crowd sourcing. This paper is not written to be ‘value-neutral’, but is motivated by the author’s belief that academic activism in tourism ‘must be with the communities and not for them: solidarity is the basis where our common concern is mutual empowerment, self-determination and emancipation.’ (Hales et al.,2013, p17) The aim of the paper is to identify how Service Design and its processes, such as co-creation, have the potential to develop cultural and rural tourism economies, which are community centric and allow the often-narrow role of the tourist to be humanised and democratised. Service Design will be discussed on the on the basis that ‘Design has shown itself to be an efficient way of improving a business’s profitability at a practical level, but when we recognize its capacity to transform environments and people’s lives, it also becomes a catalyst for social change.’ (Viladas 2011, p26) The paper will touch on the need for a democratically supported strategic framework, which ‘incorporates a broader set of values beyond economic growth’ (Hales et al., 2013, p12), and that design thinking has the ability to effect economic and cultural sustainability through co-creation and technology. Service Design thinking can be help define values and identities, that further the concept of tourism in a societal and economic context, by taking advantage of opportunities created in the digital realm by crowdsourcing and social media. The knowledge base of the author’s professional background is design and advertising, and the paper will aim to make sense of this knowledge in relation to sustainable tourism. In the latter part it will focus on the island of Crete to discuss how some of the Service Design and Advertising principles may be applied in practice and why a holistic service design strategy may be particularly suitable for community centered cultural and rural tourism on Crete