Author: media

What’ll they think of next? 

Easter chocolates, along with our favourite everyday foods, could taste just as good but be healthier in future, thanks to new technology that is revealing the science of chewing. 

CSIRO’s 3D mastication modelling is starting to provide researchers with new understanding of how to reduce salt, sugar and fat in food products, as well as how to incorporate more fibre and nutrients, and even how to create new food sensations. 

CSIRO biomechanical engineer and computer modeller, Dr Simon Harrison, said the world’s first 3D dynamic virtual mouth can provide detailed insight for developing healthier foods. 

Just in time for Easter, Dr Harrison has modelled a caramel filled Easter Egg to see what happens when the virtual mouth takes a bite. 

“In polite company, we can’t see inside someone’s mouth while they’re eating and, until now, it has not been possible to view how the chewing process alters food,” Dr Harrison said.

“Using a cutting-edge technique called smooth particle hydrodynamics, we’ve developed a virtual mouth built on real data about the physics of chewing. It predicts how a particular food breaks down and how flavour is released in the mouth. It also shows the distribution and interaction of components such as salt, sugar and fat. 

“Through this technology, we can view and analyse how food at the microscopic level works in the mouth, and how it influences our taste perception.”

This new data and understanding is helping to develop foods lower in salt, sugar and fat without changing the taste. 

CSIRO food materials scientist, Dr Leif Lundin, believes the benefits for the food industry could be enormous. 

“This technology will give food and ingredient manufacturers the ability not only to model the breakdown of a complex food product, but also the individual components,” Dr Lundin said. 

“It can also model the costs of making changes to a product, and then calculate the cost benefit. This will save time and money, compared to using the traditional ‘cook and look’ approach. 

“Our research should also help create new taste sensations that could find their way into new products on our supermarket shelves.”

Aboriginal people and their supporters will be demanding that the British Crown return all the land on the Australian continent that they hold illegally when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit Sydney and Brisbane this week.

Kooma man and member of the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy, Wayne Wharton, said “In 1992 the Mabo High Court case found that the Crown’s claim of ownership and sovereignty of this continent via Terra Nullius was illegal.  The court upheld that there was a system of governance by the original tribes and that our sovereignty has never been ceded.

“It is only through the Royal Family’s false and illegal claim of sovereignty over this continent that Federal, State and Territory governments derive their authority to pass laws and enforce them.

“By not answering the big question posed by the Mabo decision the Queen, her representatives and the Australian Government have effectively been lying to everyone who calls this continent home since 1992.

“All people who call this continent home need to start maturely and seriously engaging with the issue of Aboriginal sovereignty because the Queen and the Government have proven incapable of doing this.”

“We carefully managed this land for tens of thousands of years, then the British Crown illegally occupies it and in a blink of an eye much of the land is damaged.  Our sovereignty is NOT about deporting people or taking peoples homes, it is about our birthright and responsibility to protect this land and ALL the people (old and new) who live on it.

“That’s why we will be telling the Royal visitors, ‘Give back what you stole! Our Sovereignty has never been ceded!’”

Lord Mayor Quirk yesterday announced the details of the latest Guide to Hotel Investment for Queensland.

The figures reveal that Brisbane loses around $114 in potential business each year as a result of its shortage of high-end hotel accommodation. Asa result, Lord Mayor Qurik said, the hotel market is rich with opportunity:

• Due to a shortage in internationally-recognised, full-service hotel room supply, Brisbane is forgoing about 121,000 visitors a year.
• The shortage is causing the market to defer an estimated 278,000 room nights every year – about 14 per cent of current demand.
• The deferred economic benefit is largely contributed to the lack of hotel supply which in turn is hampering Brisbane’s ability to attract major events and conferences. This lost visitor expenditure equates to about 1100 jobs and $114 million in economic activity.

THe lor Mayor appeard with Qld Minister for Small Business Jann Stuckey.

Bicycle Queensland is on the hunt for biking bachelors, with the organisation’s 10-speed dating event oversubscribed with fit, female riders.

Held as part of Bike Week 2014, the two-wheeled take on the traditional dating technique involves a leisurely ride around the riverside and West End before finishing at a local café where you can chat and perhaps meet the rider of your dreams.

“It is a fun and light-hearted evening and certainly one of our most popular Bike Week events,” Bicycle Queensland CEO Ben Wilson said.

“There are 40 spots available and while there has been a strong uptake from the fairer sex, we’re in need of a few unattached blokes who are keen to meet other single riders.”

Mr Wilson said the Bike Week program – which runs from April 26 to May 4 – offered plenty for bike riders not looking for love.

“Regardless of whether you think you’d look good in lycra or your last bike had training wheels, Bike Week is all about jumping on a bicycle and giving it a go,” he said.

“With 25 activities on offer, most of which are free, there’s no excuse not to dust off your bike or borrow a friend’s and rediscover your love of cycling.”

Mr Wilson said the BDO Brisbane Coot-tha Challenge and the Great Brisbane Bike Ride gave riders looking to push their limits a choice of challenge over 30, 50, 75 or 110 kilometres.

“The BDO Brisbane Coot-tha Challenge is perfect for challenging yourself, or your mates,” he said.

“Every Coot-tha rider will battle the clock over the 2.3 kilometre 9 per cent climb up the mountain where PB’s, bragging rights and the climb record of six minutes and 29 seconds are all up for grabs.

“But if you haven’t sat in the saddle for a while, then the Great Brisbane Bike Ride is a great chance to stretch your cycling legs on a more leisurely route.

“There’s also “Closed Streets for Kids”, a new free event to get children and families riding a flat 5 kilometre course as part of the big rides day on Sunday May 4.”

Bike Week entries are now open. For more information about 10-speed dating, other Bike Week activities, or for a full event program head to www.bikeweek.bq.org.au.

Bike Week is partnered by the Queensland Government with support from BDO, Transcity Joint Venture and SCODY.

Proponents of the Blue economy believe that we need to do more than add sustainability frameworks onto building codes. David Bragg writes that the concept of ‘green’ design should be all inclusive. It is meant to incorporate all the actions and things that it takes to live on this blue planet sustainably.

See more at: http://sourceable.net/blue-vs-green-need-integrated-perspective/#sthash.rmonGrsh.dpuf

It is an important concept that has created a massive movement in the green building sector and must continue to grow and prosper. Its vision is good, and it is still needed because there are countless buildings whose developers still need to be turned away from ‘worst practice, lowest price’ practices to greener outcomes.

However the implementation of a model that will sustain ‘one planet living’ and ensure a truly sustainable future where the integrity of natural systems is paramount is still along way off. The agenda have been largely taken over by consultancies that with little depth to their expertise in sustainability, focus on a ‘tick the boxes’ approach to green design and decide the sustainability outcomes for their projects on a dollar per credit point cost analysis basis.

While this type of approach is adequate, it is unlikely to deliver the type of integrated innovation that can ensure that buildings become a part of the solution rather than remaining just a lesser part of the problem. We will not be able to achieve truly sustainable cities until we stop designing buildings that just ‘do less bad’ and design buildings that to take part in a restorative, net positive development future.

When the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star team (and LEED and BREEAM) originally conceived their respective tools, whole systems analysis via integrative design processes (IDP) were perceived to be a critical part of the process and the Accredited Professional was supposed to lead an IDP process, but somehow this aspect of their role seems to have been lost along the way and they are now the compiler of the submission, rather than the driver of the whole-system design process.

To some extent this is understandable, because there have been few courses and little focus on IDP outside the technical manuals. IDP processes are designed to find and drive synergistic design, materials and technology outcomes to achieve higher level efficiencies at lower costs.

Some countries identified the importance of IDP and in fact Abu Dhabi in the UAE mandated IDP submissions at Development Application (DA) stage as part of their ‘Estidama’ (Arabic for Sustainability’) tool and now require reporting of progressive improvements throughout the design process as part of the DA submission. But this is not the rule anywhere else.

There is no doubt that in some cases IDP did and still does occur, especially in the highest rated levels of buildings, but the green sector is now dominated by engineering practice based sustainability consultancies, that together with the tools themselves seem to have settled into a semi-comfortable retinue of technological solutions that don’t seem to be able to deliver the kind of disruptive change that is needed to change building completely, let alone influence the way our economy overall is run.

The drive by leading designers within the profession to seek new tools such as the Living Building Challenge and One Plant Living is an indication there is disquiet about needing to do more. The desire to do more, to look at things again in a different way, to focus on whole system integrated solutions that go way beyond just buildings and can influence whole industries and even economies, is what the ‘Blue Economy’ is about.

Blue Economy proponents are not seeking to denigrate ‘green’ in fact we all depend on the movement continuing and growing, its just that we need to take green to the next level, to fulfil its original intent and to get ‘cut-through’ of the elements needed to achieve this, a re-phrasing is needed, not to ‘greenwash’ but to identify and focus on the things that can lead to high level, net-positive, disruptive change that will create massive innovation and multiple benefit streams while simultaneously dramatically reducing costs, not just in the building sector but economy wide and the first step on the pathway is a strong focus on integrative design.

– See more at: http://sourceable.net/blue-vs-green-need-integrated-perspective/#sthash.rmonGrsh.dpuf

Councillor Helen Abrahams, The Gabba Ward, calls on Sydney based developer Payce Consolidated to comply with the Neighbourhood Plan for West End with the redevelopment of the Absoe development in West End.

The redevelopment must respect the 15 storey building height limit specified in the South Brisbane Riverside Neighbourhood Plan.

The Neighbourhood Plan states the redevelopment of this 2.5 hectare site fronting Boundary Street must “contribute towards the vibrant village atmosphere of Boundary Street.”

The proposal for 1500 units in multiple 15 storey high buildings on one site conflicts with retaining the existing village atmosphere, especially as the redevelopment of surrounding lots have three and five storey height limits. It will be a very prominent development.

If Payce Consolidated are serious about their public statement that the development “would be sympathetic to the views of the West End community” they will not propose any buildings higher than 15 storeys.

The SBRNP was not supported by the West End Community particularly the extent of the proposed population growth for the area.  I urge Payce Consolidated to stick to the stated objectives of that Plan which are:

• ·         Height limit of 15 storeys
• ·         Protection and reuse of the two heritage buildings
• ·         Public parkland on Boundary Street
• ·         Underground commercial car park
• ·         Pedestrian walkways through the site
• ·         Community spaces