Is the social agenda driving sustainable property development in Melbourne, Australia?

Purpose &ndash; Sustainable property development has increased in market share over the past two to three years globally and locally. This research aims to analyze the drivers and barriers to sustainable property development in Melbourne using the triple bottom line (TBL) theoretical framework. The TBL posits that sustainability has social, economic and environmental aspects to fulfil. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; A questionnaire was sent out to 190 developers in Melbourne who promoted sustainable property development to ascertain their views about the drivers and barriers. Findings &ndash; This research indicates that in the 2007 Melbourne market the drivers were social rather than economic. The data reveal that social reasons are considered more than economic arguments for incorporating sustainability into developments. The business case, or the economic drivers for sustainability alone do not convince developers. Research limitations/implications &ndash; The questionnaire survey informed us about developers\u27 views but not why they have these views. The sample was limited to Melbourne. Practical implications &ndash; More developments are required for developers to become convinced of the benefits. The relatively low price of energy undermines the business case for sustainability in property here and needs to be fully costed. Originality/value &ndash; This paper illustrates that whilst the theoretical framework cites three key areas for sustainability, the reality is that developers are currently driven by social and environmental factors primarily and the business case is not accepted by the majority of developers.<br /

Layer-by-Layer-Assembled Multilayer Films for Transcutaneous Drug and Vaccine Delivery

We describe protein- and oligonucleotide-loaded layer-by-layer (LbL)-assembled multilayer films incorporating a hydrolytically degradable polymer for transcutaneous drug or vaccine delivery. Films were constructed based on electrostatic interactions between a cationic poly(β-amino ester) (denoted Poly-1) with a model protein antigen, ovalbumin (ova), and/or immunostimulatory CpG (cytosine−phosphate diester−guanine-rich) DNA oligonucleotide adjuvant molecules. Linear growth of nanoscale Poly-1/ova bilayers was observed. Dried ova protein-loaded films rapidly deconstructed when rehydrated in saline solutions, releasing ova as nonaggregated/nondegraded protein, suggesting that the structure of biomolecules integrated into these multilayer films is preserved during release. Using confocal fluorescence microscopy and an in vivo murine ear skin model, we demonstrated delivery of ova from LbL films into barrier-disrupted skin, uptake of the protein by skin-resident antigen-presenting cells (Langerhans cells), and transport of the antigen to the skin-draining lymph nodes. Dual incorporation of ova and CpG oligonucleotides into the nanolayers of LbL films enabled dual release of the antigen and adjuvant with distinct kinetics for each component; ova was rapidly released, while CpG was released in a relatively sustained manner. Applied as skin patches, these films delivered ova and CpG to Langerhans cells in the skin. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of LbL films applied for the delivery of biomolecules into skin. This approach provides a new route for storage of vaccines and other immunotherapeutics in a solid-state thin film for subsequent delivery into the immunologically rich milieu of the skin.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier NanotechnologiesSingapore. Agency for Science, Technology and Researc

Enhanced Visual Authoring Using Operation History

PhD thesisGraphical editors have introduced great flexibility to the designer's workflow, providing powerful digital tools and enabling the creation of complex and compelling designs. This thesis presents methods for improving these interactions by leveraging operation history. Much instrumentation and activity logging in software has been for the purpose of debugging, that is, for the benefit of the programmer or analyst. Our work addresses the mining of operation history for the benefit of the end user. We present three main contributions in this area. First, we introduce selection expansion, a method for facilitating the reuse of complex multiple-item selections by identifying items that are likely to be edited together. We then discuss an extension of this work, soft grouping, which gives users more control than standard selection and more flexibility than standard grouping. Finally, we present an interactive visualization of operation history, interactive storyboards, which enables in-context browsing and manipulation of operation history. We demonstrate these approaches in the context of vector graphics editing and present the results of pilot studies using our software implementation. While this thesis focuses on the usage patterns of graphic designers, many of the strategies could be generalized to other domains.Ph.D

Electronic control of redox reactions inside Escherichia coli using a genetic module.

Microorganisms regulate the redox state of different biomolecules to precisely control biological processes. These processes can be modulated by electrochemically coupling intracellular biomolecules to an external electrode, but current approaches afford only limited control and specificity. Here we describe specific electrochemical control of the reduction of intracellular biomolecules in Escherichia coli through introduction of a heterologous electron transfer pathway. E. coli expressing cymAmtrCAB from Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 consumed electrons directly from a cathode when fumarate or nitrate, both intracellular electron acceptors, were present. The fumarate-triggered current consumption occurred only when fumarate reductase was present, indicating all the electrons passed through this enzyme. Moreover, CymAMtrCAB-expressing E. coli used current to stoichiometrically reduce nitrate. Thus, our work introduces a modular genetic tool to reduce a specific intracellular redox molecule with an electrode, opening the possibility of electronically controlling biological processes such as biosynthesis and growth in any microorganism

Perceptual picture emphasis using texture power maps

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-70).Applying selective emphasis to photographs is a critical aspect of the visual design process. There is evidence from psychophysics that contrast in texture is a key contributor to saliency in an image, yet unlike other low-level perceptual features, texture cannot be directly modified with existing image-processing software. We present a post-processing technique to subtly change the salience of regions of an image by modifying spatial variation in texture. Our method is inspired by computational models of visual attention that capture sensitivity to outliers in local feature distributions. We use the steerable pyramid, which encodes multi-scale oriented image features and compute a set of power maps which capture the local texture content at each scale and orientation. With this representation, texture variation can be modified to selectively add or remove emphasis in the image. Two user studies provide qualitative and quantitative psychophysical validation of our approach.by Sara Lee Su.S.M

Interactive Visual Histories for Vector Graphics

Presentation and graphics software enables users to experiment with variations of illustrations. They can revisit recent editing operations using the ubiquitous undo command, but they are limited to sequential exploration. We propose a new interaction metaphor and visualization for operation history. While editing, a user can access a history mode in which actions are denoted by graphical depictions appearing on top of the document. Our work is inspired by the visual language of film storyboards and assembly instructions. Our storyboard provides an interactive visual history, summarizing the editing of a document or a selected object. Each view is composed of action depictions representing the userâ s editing actions and enables the user to consider the operation history in context rather than in a disconnected list view. This metaphor provides instant access to any past action and we demonstrate that this is an intuitive interface to a selective undo mechanism

Meat and Milk Production on Irrigated Birdsfoot Trefoil Pastures in the Mountain West USA

Irrigated birdsfoot trefoil (BFT; Lotus corniculatus L.) is a productive, persistent perennial legume in the Mountain West region of the United States of America (USA) (MacAdam and Griggs 2006). It does not cause bloat, even when grazed in pure stands, because it contains a relatively small amount (2-4% of dry matter (DM)) of condensed tannins (Mueller-Harvey 2006; Waghorn 2008). Birdsfoot trefoil tannins bind excess plant proteins at rumen pH (~ pH 6.2) sufficiently to prevent bloat and then release these proteins into the abomasum at gastric pH (~ pH 2.5). This allows plant proteins to be digested to amino acids that can be absorbed in the small intestines (Waghorn et al. 1987). Short-term increases in productivity have been demonstrated in beef cattle (Wen et al. 2002) and dairy cows (Woodward et al. 1999) grazing BFT, but few studies have looked at longer-term effects on commercial farms. This study investigated the rate of season-long average daily liveweight gain and meat quality of cattle (MacAdam et al. 2011) and the intake and milk production of dairy cattle grazing pure stands of BFT on commercial farms during the summer grazing period of 2012

Associations Between Genetic Data and Quantitative Assessment of Normal Facial Asymmetry

Human facial asymmetry is due to a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors. To identify genetic influences on facial asymmetry, we developed a method for automated scoring that summarizes local morphology features and their spatial distribution. A genome-wide association study using asymmetry scores from two local symmetry features was conducted and significant genetic associations were identified for one asymmetry feature, including genes thought to play a role in craniofacial disorders and development: NFATC1, SOX5, NBAS, and TCF7L1. These results provide evidence that normal variation in facial asymmetry may be impacted by common genetic variants and further motivate the development of automated summaries of complex phenotypes

High Resolution Structural Characterization of Aβ₄₂ Amyloid Fibrils by Magic Angle Spinning NMR

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (EB-003151)National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (EB-001960)National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (EB-002026