Planning a City through ‘Dialogue’: Deliberative Policy-making in Action in Western Australia

Deliberative policy-making is an alternative method of generating new planning strategies based on the public deliberation of citizens and stakeholders. Four ideals of deliberative policy-making espoused by deliberative democracy theorists are identified. Using this framework the ‘Dialogue with the City’ process undertaken by the Western Australian Government to develop the Network City spatial planning strategy for the Perth metropolitan region is examined. While this process went further than most towards realising the ideals of deliberative policy-making, the Government was not able to fully achieve the ideals of inclusive decision-making, equitable decision-making, deliberation toward the common good and consensus decision-making. It is most likely that the deliberative approach to policy-making does not represent a new model for governing; rather, these participation techniques constitute a more sophisticated model for involving citizens and stakeholders in planning.

     

Building the Workingman's Paradise: The Design of the American Company Town

Abstract

The following are propositions for introducing ultramodern (going beyond the paradigm of Modernism) single-family housing into the current suburban domestic landscape. The houses, as iterative investigations, employ strategies of phasing, modularity, spatial planning, material expression, programming, and sequencing to maintain affordability, update the current “house,” and increase the quality of the space and composition within current market constraints. These proposals selectively re-present aspects of the current suburban domestic condition while evolving a new way of thinking about the single-family house.     

Decision rules for determining terrestrial movement and the consequences for filtering high-resolution global positioning system tracks: a case study using the African lion (Panthera leo)

The combined use of global positioning system (GPS) technology and motion sensors within the discipline of movement ecology has increased over recent years. This is particularly the case for instrumented wildlife, with many studies now opting to record parameters at high (infra-second) sampling frequencies. However, the detail with which GPS loggers can elucidate fine-scale movement depends on the precision and accuracy of fixes, with accuracy being affected by signal reception. We hypothesized that animal behaviour was the main factor affecting fix inaccuracy, with inherent GPS positional noise (jitter) being most apparent during GPS fixes for non-moving locations, thereby producing disproportionate error during rest periods. A movement-verified filtering (MVF) protocol was constructed to compare GPS-derived speed data with dynamic body acceleration, to provide a computationally quick method for identifying genuine travelling movement. This method was tested on 11 free-ranging lions (Panthera leo) fitted with collar-mounted GPS units and tri-axial motion sensors recording at 1 and 40 Hz, respectively. The findings support the hypothesis and show that distance moved estimates were, on average, overestimated by greater than 80% prior to GPS screening. We present the conceptual and mathematical protocols for screening fix inaccuracy within high-resolution GPS datasets and demonstrate the importance that MVF has for avoiding inaccurate and biased estimates of movement.     

Immunologic Effects of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy in Dogs with Spontaneous Tumors and the Impact of Intratumoral OX40/TLR Agonist Immunotherapy

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is known to induce important immunologic changes within the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, little is known regarding the early immune responses within the TME in the first few weeks following SBRT. Therefore, we used the canine spontaneous tumor model to investigate TME responses to SBRT, and how local injection of immune modulatory antibodies to OX40 and TLR 3/9 agonists might modify those responses. Pet dogs with spontaneous cancers (melanoma, carcinoma, sarcoma, n = 6 per group) were randomized to treatment with either SBRT or SBRT combined with local immunotherapy. Serial tumor biopsies and serum samples were analyzed for immunologic responses. SBRT alone resulted at two weeks after treatment in increased tumor densities of CD3+ T cells, FoxP3+ Tregs, and CD204+ macrophages, and increased expression of genes associated with immunosuppression. The addition of OX40/TLR3/9 immunotherapy to SBRT resulted in local depletion of Tregs and tumor macrophages and reduced Treg-associated gene expression (FoxP3), suppressed macrophage-associated gene expression (IL-8), and suppressed exhausted T cell-associated gene expression (CTLA4). Increased concentrations of IL-7, IL-15, and IL-18 were observed in serum of animals treated with SBRT and immunotherapy, compared to animals treated with SBRT. A paradoxical decrease in the density of effector CD3+ T cells was observed in tumor tissues that received combined SBRT and immunotherapy as compared to animals treated with SBRT only. In summary, these results obtained in a spontaneous large animal cancer model indicate that addition of OX40/TLR immunotherapy to SBRT modifies important immunological effects both locally and systemically.     

Methylmercury Causes Neurodegeneration and Downregulation of Myelin Basic Protein in the Spinal Cord of Offspring Rats after Maternal Exposure

Methylmercury (MeHg) is one of the most dangerous toxic pollutants spread throughout the earth. Chronic MeHg intoxication by contaminated food ingestion is the most common threat to human health, including impairment to the developing fetus. The present study aims at investigating the effects of maternal exposure to MeHg during gestation and lactation on the spinal cord of offspring. Pregnant rats received oral doses of MeHg (40 μg/kg/day) over a period of 42 days (21 gestation and 21 lactation). Control animals received the vehicle only. Total mercury concentration was measured in blood samples from offspring collected at the 41st postnatal day. Counting of motor neurons and immunoreactivity for myelin basic protein (MBP) were assessed in the spinal cords in both control and MeHg-intoxicated animals. Our results showed that MeHg promoted an increase in blood Hg levels. In addition, it caused a reduction in the number of spinal cord motor neurons as well as decreased MBP immunoreactivity in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar segments. Our present findings suggest that MeHg intoxication during rat pregnancy and lactation is associated with a pattern of motor neuron degeneration and downregulation of myelin basic protein in different segments of a developing spinal cord. Further studies are needed to establish the effect of MeHg intoxication in both young and adult rats.     

Reinvestigation of the antioxidant properties of conjugated linoleic acid

Despite repeated suggestions that antioxidant activity of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a collective of conjugated dienoic isomers of linoleic acid, underlies its reported anticarcinogenic and antiatherosclerotic effects, the antioxidant properties of CLA remain ill-defined. Therefore, this study was undertaken to gain more insight into the mechanism of potential CLA antioxidant activity. It was tested whether CLA could protect membranes composed of 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl phosphatidylcholine (PLPC) from oxidative modification under conditions of metal ion-dependent or-independent oxidative stress. Progress of oxidation was determined by direct spectrophotometric measurement of conjugated diene formation and by gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analysis of fatty acids. The oxidative susceptibility of CLA was higher than that of linoleic acid, and comparable to arachidonic acid. When oxidation of PLPC (1.0 mM) was initiated using the lipid-soluble 2,2′-azobis(2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile) or the water-soluble 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) hydrochloride, the radical scavengers vitamin E and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) at 0.75 μM efficiently inhibited PLPC oxidation, as evident from a clear lagphase. In contrast, 0.75 μM CLA did not have any significant effect on PLPC oxidation. Inhibition of PLPC oxidation by higher concentrations of CLA appeared due to competition, not to an antioxidant effect. When oxidation of PLPC was initiated by hydrogen peroxide/Fe²⁺ (500 μM/0.05–20 μM), both vitamin E (1 μM) and ethylene glycol-bis(aminoethyl ether) tetraacetic acid (50 μM) efficiently inhibited PLPC oxidation. However, CLA (1–50 μM) did not show a clear protective effect under any of the conditions tested. We conclude that CLA, under these test conditions, does not act as an efficient radical scavenger in any way comparable to vitamin E or BHT. CLA also does not appear to be converted into a metal chelator under metal-ion dependent oxidative stress, as had previously been suggested. On the basis of our observations, a role for CLA as an antioxidant does not seem plausible.     

风景的看护

从介绍新西兰毛利人对“土地”的图腾崇拜和对自然资源的尊重和保护谈起,强调了尊重自然,风景看护的必要性和重要性。接着,她以城市水资源的保护和有效利用为例,介绍了风景园林师的责任和世界一些国家的成功经验。最后,她指出,现代科学技术的发展,使得风景园林师可以有更多的手段实现对资源的保护和风景的有效看护,更需要采用创新性的思维,进行可持续的设计,才能不断提高风景园林的水平,应对现在和将来出现的各种复杂问题。     

Direct ceramic inkjet printing of yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte layers for anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells

Electromagnetic drop-on-demand direct ceramic inkjet printing (EM/DCIJP) was employed to fabricate dense yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte layers on a porous NiO-YSZ anode support from ceramic suspensions. Printing parameters including pressure, nozzle opening time and droplet overlapping were studied in order to optimize the surface quality of the YSZ coating. It was found that moderate overlapping and multiple coatings produce the desired membrane quality. A single fuel cell with a NiO-YSZ/YSZ (∼6 μm)/LSM + YSZ/LSM architecture was successfully prepared. The cell was tested using humidified hydrogen as the fuel and ambient air as the oxidant. The cell provided a power density of 170 mW cm⁻² at 800 °C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed a highly coherent dense YSZ electrolyte layer with no open porosity. These results suggest that the EM/DCIJP inkjet printing technique can be successfully implemented to fabricate electrolyte coatings for SOFC thinner than 10 μm and comparable in quality to those fabricated by more conventional ceramic processing methods.     

Turbulent times: tourists’ attitudes towards wind turbines in the Southern Highlands in Iceland

As a response to the threat of climate change, many nations are increasing their use of renewable energy, including wind energy. Large wind farms often conflict with other land uses, particularly tourism, which is a growing industry worldwide. In Iceland, tourism has recently become the largest export sector, with majority of tourists travelling to the country to experience its nature. This paper examines tourists’ opinions and perceptions of wind power development in the Southern Highlands of Iceland and compares how number, size and proximity of wind turbines, and the landscape in which they are situated, influence tourists’ perceptions. The study is based on an on-site questionnaire survey conducted in 2015. The results indicate that one-third of the travellers would be less likely to visit the Southern Highlands if a proposed wind farm were built, and two-thirds think that wind turbines would decrease the area’s attractiveness.