Canberra's Afterlife. Highpressure Crystals and the Bush Capital Dream

Canberra, the ?Bush Capital? of Australia, was a project torn between ambition and avoidance. For fear of upsetting Sydney or Melbourne, its location avoided larger territorial aspirations but its crystalline winning scheme was bold, and contained the promise of enlightened irradiation. Postwar Canberra, like so many other cities at the time, let its future be designed by Cold-War traffic engineers, who confidently turned dream into sprawl and highways. Although Canberra s mix of ambition and banality, of symbolic desire and structural normalcy, may be precisely what a good city is all about, it probably contains these in defective proportions. What Canberra needs is just a little more of itself, in different amounts, to a higher pressure from the inside. We can easily imagine the multiplying of the original Griffin plan, adding the city onto itself, organizing the recent sprawl with new nodes and public transport with more urban streets between them. With this reclaimed space for higher density, Canberra can then grow from the inside instead of sprawling away, lowering its expenditure on transport and its carbon and sustainability footprint. The new nodes will be denser and allow for variety and change in its programmatic design. Minor but detailed changes in street and public space design will also allow for easier multi-species (people, animals?) access to urban and natural resources. Video brief of the project: http://vimeo.com/45799435

Multisensor data fusion for accurate modelling of mobile objects

In the last decade, multi-sensor data fusion has become a broadly demanded discipline to achieve advanced solutions that can be applied in many real world situations, either civil or military. In Defence,accurate detection of all target objects is fundamental to maintaining situational awareness, to locating threats in the battlefield and to identifying and protecting strategically own forces. Civil applications, such as traffic monitoring, have similar requirements in terms of object detection and reliable identification of incidents in order to ensure safety of road users. Thanks to the appropriate data fusion technique, we can give these systems the power to exploit automatically all relevant information from multiple sources to face for instance mission needs or assess daily supervision operations. This paper focuses on its application to active vehicle monitoring in a particular area of high density traffic, and how it is redirecting the research activities being carried out in the computer vision, signal processing and machine learning fields for improving the effectiveness of detection and tracking in ground surveillance scenarios in general. Specifically, our system proposes fusion of data at a feature level which is extracted from a video camera and a laser scanner. In addition, a stochastic-based tracking which introduces some particle filters into the model to deal with uncertainty due to occlusions and improve the previous detection output is presented in this paper. It has been shown that this computer vision tracker contributes to detect objects even under poor visual information. Finally, in the same way that humans are able to analyze both temporal and spatial relations among items in the scene to associate them a meaning, once the targets objects have been correctly detected and tracked, it is desired that machines can provide a trustworthy description of what is happening in the scene under surveillance. Accomplishing so ambitious task requires a machine learning-based hierarchic architecture able to extract and analyse behaviours at different abstraction levels. A real experimental testbed has been implemented for the evaluation of the proposed modular system. Such scenario is a closed circuit where real traffic situations can be simulated. First results have shown the strength of the proposed system.

Diseño y desarrollo de un modelo booleano probabilístico de regulación genética en el simulador de colonias bacterianas GRO

Resulta interesante comprender como microorganismos sencillos como la bacteria Escherichia coli poseen mecanismos no tan simples para responder al entorno en el que está gestionada por complicadas redes de regulación formadas por genes y proteínas, donde cada elemento de la red genética debe tomar parte en armonía, en el momento justo y la cantidad adecuada para dar lugar a la respuesta celular apropiada. La biología sintética es un nuevo área de la biología y la tecnología que fusiona la biolog ía molecular, la ingeniería genética y las herramientas computacionales, para crear sistemas biológicos con funcionalidades novedosas. Los sistemas creados sintéticamente son ya una realidad, y cada vez se acumulan más trabajos alrededor del mundo que muestran su factibilidad. En este campo no solo se hacen pequeñas modificaciones en la información genética, sino que también se diseñan, manipulan e introducen circuitos genéticos a los organismos. Actualmente, se hace un gran esfuerzo para construir circuitos genéticos formados por numerosos genes y caracterizar la interacción de los mismos con otras moléculas, su regulaci ón, expresión y funcionalidad en diferentes organismos. La mayoría de los proyectos de biología sintética que se han desarrollado hasta ahora, se basan en el conocimiento actual del funcionamiento de los organismos vivos. Sin embargo, la información es numerosa y creciente, por lo que se requiere de herramientas computacionales y matem áticas para integrar y hacer manejable esta gran cantidad de información. El simulador de colonias bacterianas GRO posee la capacidad de representar las dinámicas más simples del comportamiento celular, tales como crecimiento, división y comunicación intercelular mediante conjugación, pero carece de la capacidad de simular el comportamiento de la colonia en presencia de un circuito genético. Para ello, se ha creado un nuevo módulo de regulación genética que maneja las interaciones entre genes y proteínas de cada célula ejecutando respuestas celulares específicas. Dado que en la mayoría de los experimentos intervienen colonias del orden de 105 individuos, es necesario un módulo de regulación genética simplificado que permita representar de la forma más precisa posible este proceso en colonias de tales magnitudes. El módulo genético integrado en GRO se basa en una red booleana, en la que un gen puede transitar entre dos estados, on (expresado) o off (reprimido), y cuya transición viene dada por una serie de reglas lógicas.---ABSTRACT---It is interesting to understand how simple organisms such as Escherichia coli do not have simple mechanisms to respond to the environment in which they find themselves. This response is managed by complicated regulatory networks formed by genes and proteins, where each element of the genetic network should take part in harmony, at the right time and with the right amount to give rise to the appropriate cellular response. Synthetic biology is a new area of biology and technology that combines molecular biology, genetic engineering and computational tools to create biological systems with novel features. The synthetically created systems are already a reality, and increasingly accumulate work around the world showing their feasibility. In this field not only minor changes are made in the genetic information but also genetic circuits designed, manipulated and introduced into the organisms. Currently, it takes great effort to build genetic circuits formed by numerous genes and characterize their interaction with other molecules, their regulation, their expression and their function in different organisms. Most synthetic biology projects that have been developed so far are based on the current knowledge of the functioning of living organisms. However, there is a lot of information and it keeps accumulating, so it requires computational and mathematical tools to integrate and manage this wealth of information. The bacterial colonies simulator, GRO, has the ability to represent the simplest dynamics of cell behavior, such as growth, division and intercellular communication by conjugation, but lacks the ability to simulate the behavior of the colony in the presence of a genetic circuit. To this end, a new genetic regulation module that handles interactions between genes and proteins for each cell running specific cellular responses has been created. Since most experiments involve colonies of about 105 individuals, a simplified genetic module which represent cell dynamics as accurately and simply as possible is needed. The integrated genetic GRO module is based on a Boolean network, in which a gene can be in either of two states, on (expressed) or off (repressed), and whose transition is given by a set of logical rules.

Margaret Bush Wilson

Margaret Bush Wilson was a woman of highly exceptional stature. Bush accomplished much in her life; the most prominent being the first female on the N.A.A.C.P. national board of Directors. Much of her career consisted of civil rights and urban development. Before Mrs. Bush focused on her civil rights path, she was valedictorian of her graduating high school class. After completing her high school career, she began to study abroad, traveling to over six countries. These included: England, France, Ceylon, Japan, the Hawaiian Islands and her most extraordinary visit to India. Here Margaret met and spoke with Mahatma Gandhi which fueled her passion of the civil rights movement in the United States. Mrs. Bush pursued a law degree at Lincoln University Law School after completing her Bachelor’s at Talladega University. On top of her extraordinary accomplishments, Margaret Bush possessed the unique quality of appearing 10 years younger than her real age, reflecting her strong spirit and compassion towards humanity.

Molecular cloning of a peroxisomal Ca2+-dependent member of the mitochondrial carrier superfamily

A cDNA from a novel Ca2+-dependent member of the mitochondrial solute carrier superfamily was isolated from a rabbit small intestinal cDNA library. The full-length cDNA clone was 3,298 nt long and coded for a protein of 475 amino acids, with four elongation factor-hand motifs located in the N-terminal half of the molecule. The 25-kDa N-terminal polypeptide was expressed in Escherichia coli, and it was demonstrated that it bound Ca2+, undergoing a reversible and specific conformational change as a result. The conformation of the polypeptide was sensitive to Ca2+ which was bound with high affinity (Kd ≈ 0.37 μM), the apparent Hill coefficient for Ca2+-induced changes being about 2.0. The deduced amino acid sequence of the C-terminal half of the molecule revealed 78% homology to Grave disease carrier protein and 67% homology to human ADP/ATP translocase; this sequence homology identified the protein as a new member of the mitochondrial transporter superfamily. Northern blot analysis revealed the presence of a single transcript of about 3,500 bases, and low expression of the transporter could be detected in the kidney but none in the liver. The main site of expression was the colon with smaller amounts found in the small intestine proximal to the ileum. Immunoelectron microscopy localized the transporter in the peroxisome, although a minor fraction was found in the mitochondria. The Ca2+ binding N-terminal half of the transporter faces the cytosol.

Fluctuating silicate:nitrate ratios and coastal plankton food webs

Marine diatoms require dissolved silicate to form an external shell, and their growth becomes Si-limited when the atomic ratio of silicate to dissolved inorganic nitrogen (Si:DIN) approaches 1:1, also known as the “Redfield ratio.” Fundamental changes in the diatom-to-zooplankton-to-higher trophic level food web should occur when this ratio falls below 1:1 and the proportion of diatoms in the phytoplankton community is reduced. We quantitatively substantiate these predictions by using a variety of data from the Mississippi River continental shelf, a system in which the Si:DIN loading ratio has declined from around 3:1 to 1:1 during this century because of land-use practices in the watershed. We suggest that, on this shelf, when the Si:DIN ratio in the river decreases to less than 1:1, then (i) copepod abundance changes from >75% to <30% of the total mesozooplankton, (ii) zooplankton fecal pellets become a minor component of the in situ primary production consumed, and (iii) bottom-water oxygen consumption rates become less dependent on relatively fast-sinking (diatom-rich) organic matter packaged mostly as zooplankton fecal pellets. This coastal ecosystem appears to be a pelagic food web dynamically poised to be either a food web composed of diatoms and copepods or one with potentially disruptive harmful algal blooms. The system is directed between these two ecosystem states by Mississippi River water quality, which is determined by land-use practices far inland.

Sequence-selective carbohydrate-DNA interaction: dimeric and monomeric forms of the calicheamicin oligosaccharide interfere with transcription factor function.

The synthetic oligosaccharide moiety of the antibiotic calicheamicin and the head-to-head dimer of this oligosaccharide are known to bind to the minor groove of DNA in a sequence-selective manner preferring distinct target sequences. We tested these carbohydrates for their ability to interfere with transcription factor function. The oligosaccharides inhibit binding of transcription factors to DNA in a sequence-selective manner, probably by inducing a conformational change in DNA structure. They also interfere with transcription by polymerase II in vitro. The effective concentrations of the oligosaccharides for inhibition of transcription factor binding and for transcriptional inhibition are in the micromolar range. The dimer is a significantly more active inhibitor than is the monomer.

Entre a saúde e a repressão - políticas públicas na região da \'Cracolândia\' SP

Um território, uma substância e três Políticas Públicas atuando sobre uma mesma população. O trabalho tem como objetivo oferecer uma análise das Políticas Públicas para usuários de Crack instaladas no território da \"Cracolândia\" paulista, localizado no Bairro da Luz (São Paulo-SP). A criação do Programa Crack É Possível Vencer em 2010, articulada à emergência de discursos que especulavam sobre uma possível epidemia e crescente interesse dos meios de comunicação sobre a população usuária, abriu a possibilidade de criação de espaços institucionais para que o Estado intervisse sobre os usuários de crack. Dentro desse contexto, e articuladas a esse Programa do Governo Federal, surgem duas Políticas Públicas: Programa Recomeço de gestão Estadual e Programa De Braços Abertos de gestão Municipal. As ações dessas duas políticas durante os anos 2014 e 2015 constituem o foco do recorte empírico do presente trabalho. O esforço de pesquisa foi no sentido de investigar como as novas Políticas Públicas que se propunham a operar no campo da Saúde Pública e do cuidado iriam se materializar no território, como o discurso institucional iria se traduzir enquanto práticas. Em especial, interessava observar se as novas ações iriam inibir o movimento histórico de higienização do território e expulsão dos usuários. Visando contemplar na pesquisa ponto de vistas, experiências e discursos que não se limitassem ao relato institucional, foram utilizadas três fontes de dados: pesquisas realizadas na região, reportagens e documentos lançados pela mídia e pesquisa de campo. Foi realizada uma leitura e descrição detalhada de três etnografias feitas na região, com o objetivo de comparar as intervenções passadas com o contexto atual; através da análise de duas personagens midiáticas, que surgiram nos meios de comunicação em 2015, traçou-se a imagem do usuário de crack que é veiculada socialmente. E através de observação participante no território, foram descritos os eventos acontecidos durante o período de tempo delimitado, distribuídos em três eixos: Saúde, Repressão e Resistência. À partir desse itinerário de pesquisa, foi elaborada uma discussão que pontua as diferenças entre o discurso e a prática. Dentre as considerações finais, destaca-se a diferença dos modelos de tratamentos propostos pelas Políticas Públicas internação e Redução de Danos e a forma como essa disputa se materializa no cuidado aos usuários de crack. Embora tenha ocorrido um crescimento de ofertas de saúde, também ocorreu um aumento progressivo no número de agentes de segurança e equipamentos de vigilância na Cracolândia, instaurando aquilo que é chamado de Confinamento dos usuários, composto de práticas de limpeza das ruas, retirada de bens dos usuários e filmagem dos usuários. Uma estratégia de gentrificação foi detectada e descrita, ação cujo protagonista é uma empresa de seguros que, no período delimitado, se mostrou excessivamente atuante no território, mobilizando as ações estatais. E por fim, também foram descritas as ações de resistência dos usuários frente à criação das Políticas Públicas e das outras formas de intervenção estatal, ações tais como a construção das favelinhas e a atuação dos profissionais e militantes da região. Espera-se que esse trabalho contribua para uma maior compreensão da Cracolândia paulista e forneça subsídios para que melhores Políticas Públicas sejam criadas no território.

A admissibilidade e a conveniência da exclusão do controlador em S.A.

O estudo refere-se à verificação da admissibilidade e da conveniência da exclusão facultativa de acionista controlador em sociedade anônima. O tema não é propriamente novo no Brasil. Intenciona-se, no entanto, construir a hipótese a partir de fundamento legal diferente. A Lei 6.404/76 (LSA) apenas destina a exclusão para casos de acionista remisso (artigo 107, II), permanecendo silente com relação ao inadimplemento de deveres de colaboração e lealdade (em conjunto, deveres de cooperação). Nesse contexto, a doutrina e a jurisprudência brasileiras tendem a admitir a hipótese de exclusão em tais casos por aplicação do artigo 1.030 do Código Civil, destinado a regular a matéria no âmbito das sociedades simples. Para tanto, aproximam a companhia fechada das sociedades de pessoas a fim de justificar, dada a alegada omissão da lei especial a esse respeito, o tratamento por analogia. A partir do estudo sistemático da LSA, que compreende, entre outros, o entendimento do princípio da circulação de ações e da extensão dos deveres de boa-fé entre os sócios, pretende-se admitir a hipótese com base na própria lógica acionária, em razão da eventual relevância do relacionamento societário para a consecução do fim social. Em tais companhias, o adimplemento dos deveres de cooperação torna-se tão imprescindível quanto o adimplemento do dever de conferimento para o alcance do escopo comum. Em decorrência desse raciocínio, a exclusão torna-se admissível na ocorrência de inadimplemento de qualquer dever social que inviabilize, real ou potencialmente, o preenchimento do fim social. A identificação de eventual affectio societatis entre os acionistas, portanto, passa a ser irrelevante. Admitir a hipótese no que se refere a acionista controlador se revela ainda importante instrumento de limitação do exercício ilegítimo do poder de controle e não se confunde com a sanção de perdas e danos prevista na LSA por abuso de poder de controle. Por fim, será analisada a conveniência da exclusão do controlador, em razão de sua relevância pessoal para a consecução da atividade, a participação societária por ele detida e da possibilidade de dissolver-se parcialmente a sociedade, com a saída do acionista minoritário descontente.

Base de referência para o mapeamento de competências de trabalho em equipe de servidores técnico-administrativos em universidades públicas, no estado de São Paulo

O objetivo geral é caracterizar o trabalho em equipe, com base na abordagem das competências, em universidades públicas. Os objetivos específicos são identificar os papéis que o servidor desempenha na equipe; a maturidade das equipes; as características de super equipe; os indicadores de competência (conhecimento, habilidade e atitude) para o trabalho em equipe; e os atributos de competência \'conhecimento\' do servidor com relação à organização (estrutura e processos), informação (comunicação) e desenvolvimento (treinamento e aprendizagem). Alguns trabalhos na literatura destacam a importância das competências e do trabalho em equipe na gestão de competências e a relevância da gestão pública. Entretanto, se faz necessário estudos sobre as competências para o trabalho em equipe na gestão de universidades públicas. Para atingir o objetivo proposto foi feito um levantamento em três universidades paulistas, por meio de um questionário, respondido por servidores técnico-administrativos, além de uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema. Foi possível comparar teoria e prática e obter conclusões sobre o tema estudado. Como principais resultados observou-se os atributos e os indicadores de competências, que tornam possível iniciar um processo de mapeamento de competências para desenvolver um modelo de aprimoramento dos setores que utilizam as equipes.

El confesor real en la Castilla de los Trastamara: 1366-1504

The knowledge about the figure of royal confessor has been, until recent times, very limited for the period of medieval Castile. A lot of studies have been done for Modern Age, when the institution of the kinǵs confessor played an important role in the Court of the Hispanic Crown. It is evident that this figure didńt appear ex nihilo in the Sixteenth Century and there existed some origins. Many historians mentioned some medieval confessors in their studies about any other subjects. Actually, it was not clear if those clerics could be properly considered as confessors. Our first aim has been to find all the references which exist in the sources and bibliography about kinǵs confessors in the Middle Ages and verify their nature as confessors. We fixed the beginning of the period of study with the reign of Enrique II, and its end with the death of Isabel I in 1504. The main reason is the fact that both sovereigns are the first and last monarchs of Trastamara dinasty, a very significant period in the origin of Modern State in Castile. The Church was an essential element in this process, on account of the service which many clerics enlisted to the Crown in different tasks (diplomacy, bureaucracy, Counsel and Counselling, etc.) and their ideological support to this endeavour. In this context, the royal confessor could perform an important work as personal advisor and a loyal subject to the person of the king in so many activities. This is well-known for Modern Age and also fort the reign of transition between this period and the precedent: the period of Catholic Kings. But it isńt for the times backwards...

Acoustic properties of porous concrete made from arlite and vermiculite lightweight aggregates

The use of sustainable materials is becoming a common practice for noise abatement in building and civil engineering industries. In this context, many applications have been found for porous concrete made from lightweight aggregates. This work investigates the acoustic properties of porous concrete made from arlite and vermiculite lightweight aggregates. These natural resources can still be regarded as sustainable since they can be recycled and do not generate environmentally hazardous waste. The experimental basis used consists of different type specimens whose acoustic performance is assessed in an impedance tube. Additionally, a simple theoretical model for granular porous media, based on parameters measurable with basic experimental procedures, is adopted to predict the acoustic properties of the prepared mixes. The theoretical predictions compare well with the absorption measurements. Preliminary results show the good absorption capability of these materials, making them a promising alternative to traditional porous concrete solutions.

Half of a yellow sun

A beautiful sweeping story of two sisters caught up in the events of the Nigerian civil war, ending in chilling violence which shocked the entire world.

Justice of the peace day book, 1797-1816

Contains records of summons and judgements in various court cases, and fines paid.

Alphabetical catalog of Harvard College graduates through 1767, 1767

This hard-bound manuscript catalog alphabetically lists the men who graduated from Harvard College between 1642 and 1767. It is believed to be the first such list compiled. Entries contain each graduate's surname (in English), given name (in Latin), year of graduation, and occasional additional information. Francis Foxcroft (A.B. 1712) compiled the catalog. Entries for those who graduated between 1764 and 1767 have been added at the end of each alphabetical section.