The relationship between building adaptation and property attributes

Using a database of building adaptation and property attributes this research examined every adaptation event in Melbourne's CBD between 1998 and 2008. The importance of property attributes was derived using a principal component analysis and a weighted index of optimal decision making attributes was proposed; the Preliminary Assessment Adaptation Model (PAAM). The findings indicate the relationship between property attributes is more complex than hitherto held. Overall physical attributes were found to be more important than others such as economic, environmental, legal and social attributes; however physical attributes alone are not important and are closely related to other attributes.

Droughts, floods and freshwater ecosystems : evaluating climate change impacts and developing adaptation strategies

Climate change is expected to have significant impacts on hydrologic regimes and freshwater ecosystems, and yet few basins have adequate numerical models to guide the development of freshwater climate adaptation strategies. Such strategies can build on existing freshwater conservation activities, and incorporate predicted climate change impacts. We illustrate this concept with three case studies. In the Upper Klamath Basin of the western USA, a shift in land management practices would buffer this landscape from a declining snowpack. In the Murray–Darling Basin of south-eastern Australia, identifying the requirements of flood-dependent natural values would better inform the delivery of environmental water in response to reduced runoff and less water. In the Savannah Basin of the south-eastern USA, dam managers are considering technological and engineering upgrades in response to more severe floods and droughts, which would also improve the implementation of recommended environmental flows. Even though the three case studies are in different landscapes, they all contain significant freshwater biodiversity values. These values are threatened by water allocation problems that will be exacerbated by climate change, and yet all provide opportunities for the development of effective climate adaptation strategies.

Thermal comfort adaptation in outdoor places

The level of international migration has been growing in the last decades creating a plurality of cultures and inspiring a multicultural nature in global cities (O'Byrne, 1997; Short and Kim, 1999; Hawkins, 2006). This created new challenges in urban planning or the management of the coexistence of different people that are having different characteristics shaping their unique identity and needs in shared places. Being the urban stages where the social interactions happen, public places are considered important parts of cities (Thompson, 2002; Varna, 2009). These places can contribute to enhance the quality of life within cities, or contrarily increase isolation and social exclusion (Lo et al.; 2003). As agreed by researchers the users’ state of comfort gives a good indication for how successful is the public outdoor places (Rosheidat et al.; 2008; Kwong et al.; 2009; Aljawabra and Nikolopoulou, 2010). In order to create a successful open space usable by all members of a community, urban designers need to satisfy their thermal comfort needs in its wider meaning according to a variety of users (Knez and Thorsson, 2006; Thorsson et al.; 2007). While assessing the thermal comfort, in addition to the strong influence of the microclimatic parameters, the term thermal adaptation seems to becoming increasingly important. The thermal comfort adaption is then a considerable issue in design guidelines of outdoor environments (Nikolopoulou and Steemers, 2003). The main aim of the research is to examine the influence of thermal adaptation and environmental attitude on participants’ thermal requirements in outdoor public places. It focuses on understanding the effect of adaptation on the thermal comfort perception of immigrants. The research methodology of the research is provided through quantitative analysis of a case study. The findings of thermal comfort investigations could be applied into improving the quality of urban areas in order to increase the outdoor activities of citizens and use of outdoor places.

Visualising literature : screen adaptation and the process of reading/viewing

This study demonstrates a method of reading/viewing screen adaptations of literary works as intertextually situated works of art which interact through differences to make possible new interpretations. Switching between possible interpretations undermines views of the world which critics find embedded in the screen adaptation and literary precursors.

A protocol for discovering content adaptation services

Service-oriented content adaptation scheme has emerged to address content adaptation problem. In this scheme, content adaptation functions are provided as services by multiple providers, located across wide area network. To benefit from these services, clients must be able to locate them in the network. This makes service discovery as an important component. In this paper, we propose a service discovery protocol that takes into account searching space, searching time, QoS and physical location of the potential providers. The performance of the proposed protocol is studied in term of discoverability under various conditions and shown to be substantially better than the keyword-based and QoS-based approaches.

Perceptions of climate change and adaptation responses in a local community : the Barwon Estuary Complex, Victoria

The climate change focus in Australia has shifted from mitigation to adaptation with an emphasis on place-specific case studies. The Barwon Estuary Complex (BEC) on the Bellarine Peninsula, central Victoria, was the focus of this place-specific study in which 37 local stakeholders were consulted through a series of semi-structured interviews on the impacts of climate change on their coastal community. Overall there was uniformity in stakeholder perceptions of the climate change impacts and vulnerabilities pertaining to the BEC. In contrast, discussion on adaptation drew a diversity of responses. While 53 per cent of stakeholders indicated a need to limit the use of hard structures, and rather plan around a changing estuarine environment, opinion amongst the community group was divided. Some believed ‘retreat is the only option’ whilst others felt ‘there won’t be much leaving’. The present level of confusion around adaptation highlights the imperative of commencing discussions now to allow sufficient time to develop strategies which are both environmentally and socially responsible. This is important as ultimately it will be the community that will determine whether adaptation strategies are adopted or met with resistance.

Adaptation and self-undermining postmodern views of the world

This paper examines the artistic construction of fictional and non-fictional characters and worlds and shows how adaptation changes non-fiction into fiction. This is illustrated with two films, Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002) and American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, 2003). These films are examples of self-reflexive intertextuality, in which the film chronicles the process of its own making and contains multiple portrayals of the characters and story world that inform reading/viewing. Postmodern irony is implicated in this process, which is shown to be self-undermining. The self-loathing of the characters Laroche, Orlean, Kaufman and Pekar is related to the self-loathing arising from Schopenhauer's view of the world, in which the will to life must be renounced to achieve equanimity. The dialogue that results from reading/viewing informed by differences and switching undermines the interpretation of critics that the non-fiction works and film adaptations reflect the postmodern world view, in which a person's self is created by the rush of phenomena, where persons do not change and nothing is resolved.

Kruppel-like factor 15 regulates skeletal muscle lipid flux and exercise adaptation

The ability of skeletal muscle to enhance lipid utilization during exercise is a form of metabolic plasticity essential for survival. Conversely, metabolic inflexibility in muscle can cause organ dysfunction and disease. Although the transcription factor Kruppel-like factor 15 (KLF15) is an important regulator of glucose and amino acid metabolism, its endogenous role in lipid homeostasis and muscle physiology is unknown. Here we demonstrate that KLF15 is essential for skeletal muscle lipid utilization and physiologic performance. KLF15 directly regulates a broad transcriptional program spanning all major segments of the lipid-flux pathway in muscle. Consequently, Klf15-deficient mice have abnormal lipid and energy flux, excessive reliance on carbohydrate fuels, exaggerated muscle fatigue, and impaired endurance exercise capacity. Elucidation of this heretofore unrecognized role for KLF15 now implicates this factor as a central component of the transcriptional circuitry that coordinates physiologic flux of all three basic cellular nutrients: glucose, amino acids, and lipids.

Comfort and adaptation to silicone hydrogel lenses for daily wear

Objectives. To investigate initial comfort and adaptation of currently successful low oxygen transmissibility soft lens wearers refitted with silicone hydrogel (SH) lenses for daily wear.

Methods. Fifty-five subjects were enrolled in a subject-masked 5-month clinical trial in which they wore 5 SH lenses in a randomized, crossover design. Comfort, burning, and dryness were rated on scales of 0 to 100 immediately on insertion and the time for lens settling was recorded. Symptoms were then rated at various times, using BlackBerry wireless communication devices (Research in Motion, Waterloo, Canada), during the day for 2 cycles of 2 weeks wear for each lens type.

Results. Comfort immediately on insertion varied between lens types (P=0.002). All lens types were reported by the subjects to have settled within 30 to 45 sec of insertion (P=0.14) and settled comfort was greater than comfort immediately on insertion (P<0.001). Comfort within the first hour of wear also varied between lens types (P=0.02). Comfort during the day decreased significantly for all lenses (P=0.001), but there was no difference between lenses (P=0.19) and no effect of lens age (P=0.15). The wearing times were greater with the SH lenses than the habitual lenses worn before study commencement (P=0.001). Overall performance of the lenses after 4 weeks was high, with no difference between lenses (P=0.45).

Conclusions. Initial comfort and adaptation to all SH lenses were good and no differences in the overall ratings were found between the 5 SH lenses investigated. Decreased comfort was noted later in the day with all lens types, but longer wearing times were reported with the SH lenses than previous hydroxyethyl methacrylate-based lenses.

Copy number variation and transposable elements feature in recent, ongoing adaptation at the Cyp6g1 locus

The increased transcription of the Cyp6g1 gene of Drosophila melanogaster, and consequent resistance to insecticides such as DDT, is a widely cited example of adaptation mediated by cis-regulatory change. A fragment of an Accord transposable element inserted upstream of the Cyp6g1 gene is causally associated with resistance and has spread to high frequencies in populations around the world since the 1940s. Here we report the existence of a natural allelic series at this locus of D. melanogaster, involving copy number variation of Cyp6g1, and two additional transposable element insertions (a P and an HMS-Beagle). We provide evidence that this genetic variation underpins phenotypic variation, as the more derived the allele, the greater the level of DDT resistance. Tracking the spatial and temporal patterns of allele frequency changes indicates that the multiple steps of the allelic series are adaptive. Further, a DDT association study shows that the most resistant allele, Cyp6g1-[BP], is greatly enriched in the top 5% of the phenotypic distribution and accounts for ~16% of the underlying phenotypic variation in resistance to DDT. In contrast, copy number variation for another candidate resistance gene, Cyp12d1, is not associated with resistance. Thus the Cyp6g1 locus is a major contributor to DDT resistance in field populations, and evolution at this locus features multiple adaptive steps occurring in rapid succession.