Co-Design Practice

Can a collaborative approach to analysis and production of space promote knowledge transfer that enhance social and spatial capital for local communities? Over the last three years we have initiated, raised funds, managed and delivered a number of successful collaborative design- and research projects across Dalston, East London. As award winning and internationally practicing architects and urban designers, we embed relevant topics into the centre of the studio-based design teaching at UEL to create a ‘field of opportunity’ for overlaps between professional disciplines, institutions and local authorities, for mutual benefit. As a response to challenging urban contexts of conflict, deprivation and climate change, our designstudio approach to research aims to explore and develop alternative forms of collaborative design practice and co-design methodology

Emotion Regulation and Parental Bonding in Families of Adolescents With Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

Parental bonding and emotional regulation, while important to explain difficulties that may arise in child development, have mainly been studied at an individual level. The present study aims to examine alexithymia and parental bonding in families of adolescents with psychiatric disorders through different generations. The sample included a total of 102 adolescent patients with psychiatric disorders and their parents. In order to take a family level approach, a Latent Class Analysis was used to identify the latent relationships among alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale), perceived parental bonding (Parental Bonding Instrument) and the presence of adolescent internalizing or externalizing psychiatric symptoms (Youth Self-Report). Families of internalizing and externalizing adolescents present different and specific patterns of emotional regulation and parenting. High levels of adolescent alexithymia, along with a neglectful parenting style perceived by the adolescent and the father as well, characterized the families of patients with internalizing symptoms. On the other hand, in the families with externalizing adolescents, it was mainly the mother to remember an affectionless control parental style. These results suggest the existence of an intergenerational transmission of specific parental bonding, which may influence the emotional regulation and therefore the manifestation of psychiatric symptoms

Relational States of Dalston: Research Project

This report documents the innovative method for a multi-phased collaborative research project with a Local Authority client, that originated from the research-led design studio teaching. Externally funded, graduates worked as co-researchers to produce a socio-spatial stakeholder analysis that formed part of Hackney Council’s public consultation process and evidence base for the implementation of Dalston Area Action Plan into local Planning Policy

Mas-Piece / Body-Architecture: Collaboration between Tropical Isles Canrival Group and UEL BSc Architecture, Unit A

Carnival Mas-Piece is a live-build project and 1:1 construction of a 5 meter tall Mas-piece in collaboration between Tropical Isles canrival youth group and UEL students that won numerous prizes at Notting Hill and Hackney Carnivals 2019

Mitochondrial transport and metabolism of the vitamin B-derived cofactors thiamine pyrophosphate, coenzyme A, FAD and NAD+, and related diseases: A review

Multiple mitochondrial matrix enzymes playing key roles in metabolism require cofactors for their action. Due to the high impermeability of the mitochondrial inner membrane, these cofactors need to be synthesized within the mitochondria or be imported, themselves or one of their precursors, into the organelles. Transporters belonging to the protein family of mitochondrial carriers have been identified to transport the coenzymes: thiamine pyrophosphate, coenzyme A, FAD and NAD+, which are all structurally similar to nucleotides and derived from different B-vitamins. These mitochondrial cofactors bind more or less tightly to their enzymes and, after having been involved in a specific reaction step, are regenerated, spontaneously or by other enzymes, to return to their active form, ready for the next catalysis round. Disease-causing mutations in the mitochondrial cofactor carrier genes compromise not only the transport reaction but also the activity of all mitochondrial enzymes using that particular cofactor and the metabolic pathways in which the cofactor-dependent enzymes are involved. The mitochondrial transport, metabolism and diseases of the cofactors thiamine pyrophosphate, coenzyme A, FAD and NAD+ are the focus of this review

Identification of the mitochondrial GTP/GDP transporter in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains 35 members of a family of transport proteins that, with a single exception, are found in the inner membranes of mitochondria. The transport functions of the 16 biochemically identified mitochondrial carriers are concerned with shuttling substrates, biosynthetic intermediates, and cofactors across the inner membrane. Here the identification and functional characterization of the mitochondrial GTP/GDP carrier (Ggc1p) is described. The ggc1 gene was overexpressed in bacteria. The purified protein was reconstituted into liposomes, and its transport properties and kinetic parameters were characterized. It transported GTP and GDP and, to a lesser extent, the corresponding deoxynucleotides and the structurally related ITP and IDP by a counter-exchange mechanism. Transport was saturable with an apparent K(m) of 1 microm for GTP and 5 microm for GDP. It was strongly inhibited by pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, bathophenanthroline, tannic acid, and bromcresol purple but little affected by the inhibitors of the ADP/ATP carrier carboxyatractyloside and bongkrekate. Furthermore, in contrast to the ADP/ATP carrier, the Ggc1p-mediated GTP/GDP heteroexchange is H(+)-compensated and thus electroneutral. Cells lacking the ggc1 gene had reduced levels of GTP and increased levels of GDP in their mitochondria. Furthermore, the knock-out of ggc1 results in lack of growth on nonfermentable carbon sources and complete loss of mitochondrial DNA. The physiological role of Ggc1p in S. cerevisiae is probably to transport GTP into mitochondria, where it is required for important processes such as nucleic acid and protein synthesis, in exchange for intramitochondrially generated GDP

“DALSTON! WHO ASKED U?”: A Knowledge-Centred Perspective on the Mapping of Socio-Spatial Relations in East London

Since the turn of the millennium, Dalston in the London Borough of Hackney has experienced fundamental change through public and private investment in new infrastructure and processes of urban restructuring. This was paralleled by the reform of the national planning system, which aimed to devolve decision-making to the local level and increase the possibilities for residents and stakeholders to participate in planning processes. However, the difficulty of translating local needs and aspirations into policy goals and broadly accepted area action plans resulted in a crisis, which, in 2018, led to the introduction of the Dalston Conversation and subsequently the revision of planning goals. It is in this context that the Relational States of Dalston mapping project generated and assembled local knowledge about the web of socio-spatial relations between different local actors and in this way highlighted the significance and fragility of the communities’ networks and their spatial dimensions. The collection, ordering, integration, and production of knowledge can be seen as part of the core work in urban planning processes and policymaking. Which forms of knowledge are routinely used in planning contexts and define the relationship between planning action and urban transformation? To what extent could the mapping of local community relations add to this knowledge and help to improve decision-making processes in contested spaces of knowledge? In what ways could a relational understanding of space and architectural modes of research and representation contribute to the analysis, conceptualisation, and communication of local community relations? This article engages with these questions, using the mapping project in Dalston as a case study

Data Protection in an Increasingly Globalized World

With the rise of the internet in recent decades, it has become increasingly easy for various enterprises—including retailers, advertising agencies, and service providers—to acquire, use, and even share the personal details of their users. Such a trend is unlikely to decrease in the coming years; in fact, internet usage is only likely to increase as more and more people gain access to the internet. In the wakeof recent data breaches, including the now infamous breach of Equifax as well as the scandal involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, people are even more aware of the need for (and the risk of not having) adequate data protection laws. Luckily though, in the last few years there have been serious pushes across the globe to institute new data protection laws that ensure private data is not used for nefarious purposes or given away frivolously. This Note intends to outline the current data protection regimes in three large jurisdictions across the globe (the European Union, China, and the United States), to offer insight into the strengths and weaknesses of each regime, and to predict the path that data protection laws in the United States should take in upcoming years. As will be seen, both the European Union and China, with the institution of their newest data protection laws, use omnibus regimes, in contrast with the United States’ current sector specific regime. The United States should move from its current regime, in which there are only national laws for specific industries, to a more omnibus regime, taking elements from both the European and the Chinese data protection regimes, which will help provide a minimum floor of protection applicable to all citizens whose personal data is being processed rather than allowing for varying levels of protection between states and industries