Plan and Design Together – Just a Vision?

Landscape visualization is a representation of the real world that can be displayed as 3D simulations with various levels of realism (Schroth, 2010). Landscape visualization may demonstrate past, present conditions or future scenarios (Lewis et al., 2005). Therefore, it can be said that landscape visualization gives a chance to display scenes that are non-existent (e.g. current state visualization of altered land use, possible future design scenarios). It can be represented as static, animated or interactive scenes (Sheppard and Salter, 2004) and immersive or outside of the context (Danahy, 2001; Bishop and Lange, 2005). Human perception towards to 3D visualizations has been studied in recent years by comparing visualization and its effectiveness (Campbell and Salter, 2004; Lange, 1994; Zube et al. 1987). According to comparisons made between visualizations and realism, computer generated environments still need to be developed in order to demonstrate the high degree of realism (Bishop and Rohrmann, 2003). There have been studies investigating various degrees of realism depicted in images, especially in regard to vegetation and moving objects within the virtual environment. However, further study is required for future projects to improve the degrees of realism, raise awareness and stimulate public participation. In the field of landscape architecture, virtual reality and internet-based landscape visualization technologies (Lange, 2001) and public participation during the decision- making and design process (Saleh and Nassar, 2011) gained rising recognition over the last decade. Development in 3D landscape visualization, now, allows using mobile devices as a valuable tool in landscape design, planning and management (Lange, 2011). There is a possibility that mobile devices can be the standard method for planning and design processes (Lange, 2011). This paper focuses on the use of interactive 3D visualisation of an urban park to enhance public participation during the planning and decision-making process using mobile devices. The work presented in this paper is part of the EU Project Value+ a collaborative INTERREG IVB project. Unique to the kind of project, the research is linked to a real world investment site. Edward Street Park in the city centre of Sheffield is one of the investment sites in the INTERREG project

DA FORMAÇÃO DO RESERVATÓRIO À CRIAÇÃO DA PLATAFORMA DE ENERGIAS RENOVÁVEIS: 40 ANOS DE ESTRATÉGIAS AMBIENTAIS DA HIDRELÉTRICA BINACIONAL DE ITAIPU

Concebido como um empreendimento para a geração de energia elétrica no rio Paraná, a construção da Itaipu Binacional deu-se durante os governos militares do Brasil e do Paraguai, na década de 1970. O fechamento das comportas do canal de desvio, em 1982, gerou o grande lago de Itaipu, com 1.350 km² de extensão, causando enormes impactos ao meio físico, biótico e antrópico, alterando a geografia do oeste do Paraná e inundando grandes porções de matas nativas no território paraguaio. Ao longo desses 40 anos de existência, é possível contextualizar as estratégias ambientais desta empresa, identificando quatro fases distintas. O presente artigo descreve essas fases, que tiveram início em 1975 e se atualizam na recente criação da Plataforma Itaipu de Energias Renováveis, em 2008, que se destaca por desenvolver projetos de estímulo ao emprego de fontes de energias renováveis - solar, eólica, de biomassa e hidráulica. Hoje, a Plataforma e o Centro Internacional de Hidroinformática (CIH) são apoiados por uma cátedra da UNESCO sobre o Nexo Água e Energia no Programa de Pós Graduação em Meio Ambiente e Desenvolvimento da Universidade Federal do Paraná

Conductive epoxy/carbon nanofiber coatings for scale control

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is one of the most widespread scaling minerals and has been a long-standing problem within many industrial sectors. Scaling of calcium carbonate on conductive surfaces can be prevented electrochemically by anodic polarization. Anodic polarization, however, cannot be applied directly to metal surfaces like e.g., steel that will suffer from corrosion when polarized anodically in an aqueous environment. Thus, in this paper it is proposed to apply a conductive coating to a metal surface to allow anodic polarization and inhibit surface scaling, without corrosion of the underlying metal surface taking place. To this end an epoxy/carbon nanofiber conductive coating was developed and deposited at steel surfaces. The coating showed good adhesion to the surface and the bulk and surface resistivities were in the order of 52.80 kΩcm and 31.87 kΩ/cm2, respectively. The anti-scaling performance of the coating without- and under anodic polarization was tested upon exposure to 1.5 wt % CaCl2 solution being in contact with CO2. The coating has been tested at several different potentials to find optimal conditions for scale inhibition. Potentials above +3 VOCP caused a degradation of the coating due to oxygen evolution at the anode, as well as evolution of chlorine gas. At +1.5 and +2 VOCP the coating remained intact and the precipitation of CaCO3 was limited. On the other hand, cathodic polarization of the coating surface enhanced scaling and no coating degradation was observed at cathodic polarization even at potentials as high as -5 VOCP. The coating has thus proven a good solution to control surface scale deposition. Both anodic scale inhibition and cathodic scale acceleration have been achieved at the coating surfaces.publishedVersio

Creative Urban Methods for the Datafied City

Dataf ied and smart cities produce some challenges for inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban futures. How can creative methods contribute to thinking and designing ways to imagine and co-create dataf ied cit-ies with and for participatory citizenship and values for inclusion and sustainability? This question is central to the agenda of the research group [urban interfaces] and their collaboration in interdicisplinary and transdisciplinary partnerships. Working with and around the concepts of participation, criticality and imagination, the group brings cultural inquiry into dataf ied cities together with a methodological inquiry into creative urban methods. In the following, we sketch this agenda and approach and some recent examples of what such creative methods may yield

Mouse Odf2 localizes to centrosomes and basal bodies in adult tissues and to the photoreceptor primary cilium

Odf2 (outer dense fiber 2) is the major protein of the cytoskeleton of the sperm tail. In somatic cells, it is a component of the centrosome in which it is located in the appendages of the mother centriole. Additionally, as shown previously by forced expression in cultured cells, Odf2 localizes to centrioles, basal bodies, and primary cilia, which are all structurally and functionally interconnected. The importance of Odf2 has become obvious by the absence of primary cilia in Odf2-deficient cells and by the embryonic lethality of the Odf2 gene trap insertional mouse. However, nothing is known about the endogenous localization of Odf2 in the tissues of adult mice. We show here that Odf2 protein localizes to centrosomes, to photoreceptor primary cilia, and to basal bodies of ciliated cells of the respiratory epithelium and of the kidney. Our results thus suggest that Odf2 contributes to assorted ciliopathies

Biological, clinical and population relevance of 95 loci for blood lipids.

Plasma concentrations of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides are among the most important risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) and are targets for therapeutic intervention. We screened the genome for common variants associated with plasma lipids in >100,000 individuals of European ancestry. Here we report 95 significantly associated loci (P < 5 x 10(-8)), with 59 showing genome-wide significant association with lipid traits for the first time. The newly reported associations include single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near known lipid regulators (for example, CYP7A1, NPC1L1 and SCARB1) as well as in scores of loci not previously implicated in lipoprotein metabolism. The 95 loci contribute not only to normal variation in lipid traits but also to extreme lipid phenotypes and have an impact on lipid traits in three non-European populations (East Asians, South Asians and African Americans). Our results identify several novel loci associated with plasma lipids that are also associated with CAD. Finally, we validated three of the novel genes-GALNT2, PPP1R3B and TTC39B-with experiments in mouse models. Taken together, our findings provide the foundation to develop a broader biological understanding of lipoprotein metabolism and to identify new therapeutic opportunities for the prevention of CAD

Above- and belowground biodiversity jointly tighten the P cycle in agricultural grasslands

Experiments showed that biodiversity increases grassland productivity and nutrient exploitation, potentially reducing fertiliser needs. Enhancing biodiversity could improve P-use efficiency of grasslands, which is beneficial given that rock-derived P fertilisers are expected to become scarce in the future. Here, we show in a biodiversity experiment that more diverse plant communities were able to exploit P resources more completely than less diverse ones. In the agricultural grasslands that we studied, management effects either overruled or modified the driving role of plant diversity observed in the biodiversity experiment. Nevertheless, we show that greater above- (plants) and belowground (mycorrhizal fungi) biodiversity contributed to tightening the P cycle in agricultural grasslands, as reduced management intensity and the associated increased biodiversity fostered the exploitation of P resources. Our results demonstrate that promoting a high above- and belowground biodiversity has ecological (biodiversity protection) and economical (fertiliser savings) benefits. Such win-win situations for farmers and biodiversity are crucial to convince farmers of the benefits of biodiversity and thus counteract global biodiversity loss

Changes in lung function in European adults born between 1884 and 1996 and implications for the diagnosis of lung disease:a cross-sectional analysis of ten population-based studies

Background: During the past century, socioeconomic and scientific advances have resulted in changes in the health and physique of European populations. Accompanying improvements in lung function, if unrecognised, could result in the misclassification of lung function measurements and misdiagnosis of lung diseases. We therefore investigated changes in population lung function with birth year across the past century, accounting for increasing population height, and examined how such changes might influence the interpretation of lung function measurements. Methods: In our analyses of cross-sectional data from ten European population-based studies, we included individuals aged 20-94 years who were born between 1884 and 1996, regardless of previous respiratory diagnoses or symptoms. FEV1, forced vital capacity (FVC), height, weight, and smoking behaviour were measured between 1965 and 2016. We used meta-regression to investigate how FEV1 and FVC (adjusting for age, study, height, sex, smoking status, smoking pack-years, and weight) and the FEV1/FVC ratio (adjusting for age, study, sex, and smoking status) changed with birth year. Using estimates from these models, we graphically explored how mean lung function values would be expected to progressively deviate from predicted values. To substantiate our findings, we used linear regression to investigate how the FEV1 and FVC values predicted by 32 reference equations published between 1961 and 2015 changed with estimated birth year. Findings: Across the ten included studies, we included 243 465 European participants (mean age 51·4 years, 95% CI 51·4-51·5) in our analysis, of whom 136 275 (56·0%) were female and 107 190 (44·0%) were male. After full adjustment, FEV1 increased by 4·8 mL/birth year (95% CI 2·6-7·0; p<0·0001) and FVC increased by 8·8 mL/birth year (5·7-12·0; p<0·0001). Birth year-related increases in the FEV1 and FVC values predicted by published reference equations corroborated these findings. This height-independent increase in FEV1 and FVC across the last century will have caused mean population values to progressively exceed previously predicted values. However, the population mean adjusted FEV1/FVC ratio decreased by 0·11 per 100 birth years (95% CI 0·09-0·14; p<0·0001). Interpretation: If current diagnostic criteria remain unchanged, the identified shifts in European values will allow the easier fulfilment of diagnostic criteria for lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but the systematic underestimation of lung disease severity. Funding: The European Respiratory Society, AstraZeneca, Chiesi Farmaceutici, GlaxoSmithKline, Menarini, and Sanofi-Genzyme