The Social Role of Design on Collaborative Destination Branding: Creating a new journey, a new story for the Waterfall Way, New South Wales, Australia

This paper suggests that collaborative design can be an effective tool to promote social change. A co-design methodology and the results of its application in branding the Waterfall Way (New South Wales, Australia) as an eco- and nature-based tourism destination are presented as an example. The co-design exercise actively involved stakeholders in all stages of the design process, harnessing local tacit knowledge in relation to communication design, stimulating reflection upon what is special about the places, and consequently reinforcing a sense of belonging and the environmental and cultural conservation of place. The achieved results reflect the involvement and ownership of the community towards the design process. However, the application of a collaborative brand design methodology produced more than just a destination brand that is attractive to visitors, in line with local values, ways of living and the environment. It helped to catalyse a social network around tourism, triggering self-organising activity amongst stakeholders, who started to liaise with each other around the emergent regional identity - represented by the new brand they created together. The Waterfall Way branding process is a good example of social construction of shared understanding in and through design, showing that design exercises can have a significant social impact not only on the final product, but also on the realities of people involved in the process. Keywords: Destination Branding; Collaborative Process; Social Design; Self Organising Systems; Sustainable Tourism</p

Linear programming of a slate quarry

[Abstract] A new exploitation of roofing slate has several possibilities of marketing depending on the sizes of the pieces that it makes. Three sizes has been chosen among aH the possibilities in base of the conditions and the production of the rock in the quarry, the marketing limitation and the final price of the producto We've procces aH these data to obtain the optimun output, with the simplex algorithm. The objective function (week invoicing) and the restrictions of the problem are created in canonical and standard formo Optimun solution has been obtained among aH the basic and practical ones, using the graphic and the analytic method. Sorne conclusions come from the algorithm matrix about the outputs for each marketing option

Dimension and support of underground slate mines

[Abstract] We've studied the conditions about dimensions and support ofan underground mine of roofing slate in Galice, worked by rooms with continuous pillars. The rock mass was characterized by the empiric and analitic methods, calculating the stable pillar wide along the mine by the theory of attributed area and by a model of finite elements, where the breaking criterion ofHoek and Brown was applied. The result was a parabolic relationship between pillar wide and mine length. Stability studies in an isolated stope give an elastic performance on the periphery of the room, without tractions. Although the stability ofthe mine is good, a systematic support is recommended on the basis of bolts, that will be reinforced with projected concret at the top, and a singular treatment of the detected wedges

EGCG Treatment on Ts65Dn Mice Suggests a Possible Correlation in Cognitive Development Deficit Reduction

poster abstractDown syndrome (DS) is caused by trisomy of human chromosome 21 (Ts21), affecting 1 in 700 live births. Ts21 results in about 80 phenotypes of which intellectual disability (ID) is one of the most debilitating. DYRK1A, found in 3 copies in individuals with Ts21 has been linked to alterations in morphology and function of the brain resulting in ID. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a specific inhibitor of Dyrk1a activity has been hypothesized as a possible treatment for the overexpression of this gene, reducing the deficits caused by Dryk1a. Using the Ts65Dn mouse model, we examined the effects on hippocampal dependent learning and memory in the novel object recognition task (NOR) using mice of 3-6 weeks of age (adolescent mice). They were given free access to EGCG (0.124 mg/mL) in their drinking water for 21 days. They were then tested for cognitive improvement through NOR. Ts65Dn and control mice (treated and untreated) were subjected to 3 days of testing with 15 minute sessions per day consisting of habituation, exposure, and test day. All procedures were recorded and analyzed to determine time spent exploring novel object in relation to familiar. Our current results suggest that s65Dn mice do not spend as much time exploring the novel object as euploid mice and there exists a genotype effect, but treatment is not correcting the learning and memory deficit. We hypothesize that continuous EGCG treatment may be needed in order to see cognitive deficit reduction in adolescent mice

Spatial variatian of Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn mability

[Abstract] To investigate the spatial behavior of topsoil Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn in a small (1,8 ha) field 53 samples were taken acording to a nested sampling pattern. Metal contents extracted by 0.05 EDTA, both at pH = S and pH = 7 were analyzed and the Fe, Mn, CuandZndegree ofbinding was assessed by a mobility . index, calculated as the difference between the concentrations released at pH = S and at pH = 7. Both the extractable content and the mobility index of these four metals displayed a wide range of variability. As expected, at the pHs range studied, field-averaged solubility was constant for Fe and increased for the other metals following the rank Zn =:: Cu < Mn. Mobility indexdata analyzed bygeostatistical techniques, specificallyvariogram computation, were found to have a spatial structure. Block-kriged contourmaps allowed to identify microregions with significantly increased risk ofMn, Cuand Zn mobilization. Organic matter content, exchangeable cation capacity and silt content appeared to be the main factors responsible for the observed distribution of metals extractability and mobility index within the studied field.