关于培育的问题:让建筑设计在大学中蓬勃发展

运用生物学类比,从适应和培育的角度思考如何在当代大学中支持并促进设计教师的发展.根据过去十数年在都柏林大学的经验,同时考虑到高级教职员工和初级教职员工的不同情况,认为教师与学院机构都需要适应和改变,才能正确地评估设计实践者的工作价值.     

Macrophage Immunomodulation Through New Polymers that Recapitulate Functional Effects of Itaconate as a Power House of Innate Immunity

Itaconate (ITA) is an emerging powerhouse of innate immunity with therapeutic potential that is limited in its ability to be administered in a soluble form. A library of polyester materials that incorporate ITA into polymer backbones resulting in materials with inherent immunoregulatory behavior is developed. Harnessing hydrolytic degradation release from polyester backbones, ITA polymers result in the mechanism specific immunoregulatory properties on macrophage polarization in vitro. In a functional assay, the polymer-released ITA inhibits bacterial growth on acetate. Translation to an in vivo model of biomaterial associated inflammation, intraperitoneal injection of ITA polymers demonstrate a rapid resolution of inflammation in comparison to a control polymer silicone, demonstrating the value of sustained biomimetic presentation of ITA.     

Measurement of Electrophysiological Signals In Vitro Using High-Performance Organic Electrochemical Transistors

Biological environments use ions in charge transport for information transmission. The properties of mixed electronic and ionic conductivity in organic materials make them ideal candidates to transduce physiological information into electronically processable signals. A device proven to be highly successful in measuring such information is the organic electrochemical transistor (OECT). Previous electrophysiological measurements performed using OECTs show superior signal-to-noise ratios than electrodes at low frequencies. Subsequent development has significantly improved critical performance parameters such as transconductance and response time. Here, interdigitated-electrode OECTs are fabricated on flexible substrates, with one such state-of-the-art device achieving a peak transconductance of 139 mS with a 138 µs response time. The devices are implemented into an array with interconnects suitable for micro-electrocorticographic application and eight architecture variations are compared. The two best-performing arrays are subject to the full electrophysiological spectrum using prerecorded signals. With frequency filtering, kHz-scale frequencies with 10 µV-scale voltages are resolved. This is supported by a novel quantification of the noise, which compares the gate voltage input and drain current output. These results demonstrate that high-performance OECTs can resolve the full electrophysiological spectrum and suggest that superior signal-to-noise ratios could be achieved in high frequency measurements of multiunit activity.     

The seafood supply chain from a fraudulent perspective

Food fraud is an intentional act for economic gain. It poses a risk to food integrity, the economy, public health and consumers’ ethics. Seafood is one commodity which has endured extensive fraudulent activity owing to its increasing consumer demand, resource limitations, high value and complex supply chains. It is essential that these fraudulent opportunities are revealed, the risk is evaluated and countermeasures for mitigation are assigned. This can be achieved through mapping of the seafood supply chains and identifying the vulnerability analysis critical control points (VACCP), which can be exposed, infiltrated and exploited for fraudulent activity. This research systematically maps the seafood supply chain for three key commodities: finfish, shellfish and crustaceans in the United Kingdom. Each chain is comprised of multiple stakeholders across numerous countries producing a diverse range of products distributed globally. For each supply chain the prospect of fraud, with reference to species substitution, fishery substitution, illegal, unreported and unregulated substitution, species adulteration, chain of custody abuse, catch method fraud, undeclared product extension, modern day slavery and animal welfare, has been identified and evaluated. This mapping of the fraudulent opportunities within the supply chains provides a foundation to rank known and emerging risks and to develop a proactive mitigation plan which assigns control measures and responsibility where vulnerabilities exist. Further intelligence gathering and management of VACCPs of the seafood supply chains may deter currently unknown or unexposed fraudulent opportunities.     

Group IVB metallocene polyesters containing camphoric acid and preliminary cancer cell activity

Polyesters were formed from the reaction of the salt of camphoric acid and Group IVB metallocene dichlorides using the interfacial polycondenzation process. The polyesters were formed in good yields with moderate chain lengths. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows bands characteristic of the presence of both reactants with new bands characteristic of the formation of the M?O and M–O(CO) linkage present. The polymers largely exist in a bridging geometry of the carbonyl groups about the metal atom. Nuclear magnetic resonance shows the presence of bands derived from both reactants. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectroscopy shows ion fragments to three units for the polymers with isotopic abundance characteristic of the presence of metal atoms in the ion fragment clusters. All the polymers exhibit good ability to inhibit all the tested cancer cell lines but the zironocene and hafnocene polymers exhibit especially good inhibition of the tested cancer cell lines that included two pancreatic cancer cell lines. They represent a potential new group of anticancer drugs.     

Ion Exchange of Selected Group II Metals and Lead by Crystalline Silicotitanate and Competition for Cs Exchange Sites

ABSTRACT

A series of batch contact tests were conducted to evaluate the exchange behavior of Ba, Ca, Pb, and Sr onto crystalline silicotitanate (CST) in support of an expedited Cs removal and pretreatment system at the Hanford site. Binary Na/M²⁺ and ternary Na/Cs/M²⁺ isotherms were generated to understand selectivity, capacity, and competitive impact of each analyte on Cs uptake from a simple 1 M NaOH/4.6 M NaNO₃ simulant. Analyte loading from a 0.1 M NaOH/5.5 M NaNO₃ simulant was assessed to determine the effect of hydroxide concentration on binary Na/M²⁺ isotherms. Results from binary and ternary isotherms indicated that Group II metals Ca, Sr, and Ba (and Pb) do not impact CST performance toward Cs removal at concentrations expected in Hanford tank-waste supernate.