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Interchange
No full text"Interchange" is a video art piece that delves into the intricate and often misunderstood cultural and ecological dynamics of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The film examines the boundary between water and air ecosystems through the lens of the Te canal, challenging perceptions of the canal as a lifeless space and emphasizing its role in the city's ecological network. The visual elements of the film likely focus on the Te canal, capturing both the surface and the interactions occurring at the boundary between water and air. The color palette and lighting might emphasize the natural beauty and activity within the canal. The audio is probably a blend of natural sounds from the canal and ambient city noise, creating a juxtaposition between the fast-paced city and the serene canal environment. The narrative seems to follow the canal's interaction with both human and non-human elements, highlighting the canal's rhythms and responses to various stimuli.The film's central theme is the interdependency between the canal and its surrounding ecosystems, aiming to shift the viewer's perception from seeing the canal as a dead space to recognizing it as a vibrant, communicative entity. The symbolism lies in the portrayal of the canal as a living organism, engaging with its environment and influencing the city's pace. The technical execution, including cinematography and sound design, likely emphasizes the contrast between the bustling city and the tranquil canal, reinforcing the film's thematic focus.The film invites viewers to reconsider their understanding of urban spaces and their ecological significance. It evokes a sense of appreciation for the hidden dynamics within HCMC, encouraging a more nuanced perspective of the city's cultural and natural interconnections. The artistic merit of the work lies in its ability to reveal the overlooked vitality of the Te canal and its role in the broader urban ecosystem. The film's relevance extends to broader discussions on urban ecology and the importance of recognizing and preserving the natural elements within cities.</p
General Ecology and Speculative Pedagogies: Youth Digital Media Practices for Climate Justice
No full textAs digital media increasingly reshape what it means to sense, think, and learn in the twenty-first century, today’s young people literally inhabit “a new world, a world characterized by a vastly expanded and deterritorialized sensorium” (Hansen, 2015, p. 161). This newly technologized world can be understood as a “general ecology” that directly embeds digital technologies within biological, social, and environmental systems (Hörl, 2017), including those associated with climate change. Digital media now modulate nearly every facet of young people’s engagement with climate change (Boulianne et al., 2020), from the latest climatological modeling to the mass organization of international protest movements (Mayes & Holdsworth, 2020). Not only do young people gather and exchange knowledge about climate change through digital media, they also learn, socialize, play, and invent using digital technologies which are intricately
entangled with climate change as a planetary event (de Freitas et al., 2020; Rousell et al., 2021). This chapter explores how young people’s digital media practices contribute to climate justice through the conceptual figuration of a general ecology. This figuration situates digital media technologies as elements of young people’s natural environments so that we can analyze youth digital media practices as intricately interwoven with atmospheric and climatological processes. We suggest that such an approach is aligned with the current technologization of Earth-scale ecological systems. It also indicates wider socio-ecological transformations of planetary life associated with the Anthropocene epoch
Transnational Voices in the Indo-Pacific
No full textAlmost every developed country has a transnational broadcaster, associated on-demand services, and social media channels that are government or state supported which broadcast their country’s values to the world. This chapter is focused on public service broadcasters that produce news and current affairs in and for the Indo-Pacific with a particular emphasis on those that have editorial independence (China is discussed in depth in Chap. 5). This chapter features interviews with English and Australian journalists who have worked for state broadcasters from Russia and China to better understand news making decisions in those organisations. This chapter accepts that responsive, informative, analytic, and intelligent news and current affairs is critical to the survival and nurturing of a democratic culture and argue further, when a country cannot provide its own independent news service, that public service focused transnational broadcasters have an important role to play
Thermal Energy Storage
No full textThermal energy storage (TES) technologies are used in various thermal applications such as thermal energy efficiency enhancement, heat recovery and management, and addressing the challenge of employing intermittent renewable energy sources for continuous and uniform supply of heat. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of various TES technologies, their operation mechanisms, and applications as well as their challenges and advantages. After introducing the TES concept, its roles in enhancing energy efficiency and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions through effective use of renewables are explained. Three main TES types, namely sensible heat storage, latent heat storage, and thermochemical storage, are introduced in this chapter. The fundamental principles of each TES type are then covered in detail and their specifications, advantages and disadvantages, and their overall state of research and development are discussed
Urban Integrated Sustainable Transportation Networks
No full textEconomic growth and sustainable development rely significantly on the condition of the transportation sector. The revolutionary change in global climatic conditions is an example of the worst effects of fossil fuel‐based transportation systems. Furthermore, health implications that are caused by excessive pollution due to road transport add fuel to the fire in the environmental degradation that has not only compromised the quality of life but also damaged the geographical structures of our planet Earth. This worldwide crisis necessitates increasing the development, expansion, and utilization of sustainable transportation networks, which involves modes of transportation that are environmentally friendly. This chapter emphasizes the necessity for sustainable transportation by highlighting the catastrophic effects of greenhouse gas emissions from conventional transportation on climate change and public health while discussing some potential approaches for mitigating these emissions. It proceeds further by elaborating on the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of sustainable transportation, particularly the growing car sector, urban growth, transformation cost, planning challenges, safety risks, security challenges, social benefits, environmental benefits, and economic benefits. The chapter also presents some key modes of sustainable transportation, along with their benefits and existing cases around the globe. It also elaborates sustainable transportation in modern urban advancement and finally concludes with a detailed discussion on the infrastructure for transition towards sustainable transportation system with respect to mobility, energy, and society
Creativity and Creative Industries in Regional Australia: Interconnected networks, shared knowledge and choice making agents
No full textThis book explores the relationship between creativity, creative people, and creative industries in regional Australia through examining lived experience. The authors draw on more than 100 qualitative interviews with creative workers, and contextualise this creative work within the broader social and cultural structures of Australia’s Hunter region (located north of Sydney, in New South Wales). An invaluable resource for anyone interested in creative ecosystems as well as creativity and innovation, this book is an ethnographic study using the Hunter region as a case connected to the national and global networks that typify the creative industry. This timely addition to the Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture series gives a unique insight into creativity and cultural production
Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization of The Emerging Pathogen Campylobacter concisus
No full textCampylobacter concisus is an emerging bacterial pathogen linked with a wide range of human diseases including gum diseases, gastroenteritis and inflammatory bowel disease. C. concisus is classified into two genotypically divergent groups: genomospecies 1 (GS1) and genomospecies 2 (GS2). However, very little is known about the mode of transmission, pathogenic potential, disease propensities and severity linked with particular genomospecies. Bacteria utilize various strategies to survive environmental, nutritional, and host defences, including inducing a state known as viable but non-culturable (VBNC), employed by over 100 pathogenic bacteria. In this state, bacteria remain metabolically active but cannot be detected by conventional culture method, posing potential health risks that may be underestimated. Information on the VBNC state and resuscitation of VBNC cells in C. concisus is very limited. This study sought to explore, quantify, and characterize the VBNC state of the bacterium. It demonstrated that C. concisus cells entered the VBNC state when subjected to starvation under low temperature (4°C) for more than three weeks, marking the first observation of this phenomenon. The newly developed and optimized propidium monoazide coupled with qPCR (PMAxx-qPCR) assay effectively inhibited qPCR signals from dead cells at a final concentration of 20 µM. In this study, C. concisus entered the VBNC state within 15 days for ATCC 51562 and within 9 days for ATCC 51561. Viable cell counts, determined by PMAxx-qPCR, remained around to the initial level of 107 CFU/mL, indicating a significant portion of the cell population had entered the VBNC state. Electron microscopy revealed that the VBNC cells became coccoid and significantly smaller. The VBNC cells could be resuscitated through a temperature increase in the presence of a highly nutritious growth medium. The morphology of resuscitated cells was similar to C. concisus cells in exponential growth but larger than the VBNC cells. In conclusion, under environmental stress, most C. concisus cells were transitioned to the VBNC state. The PMAxx-qPCR method reliably detects and quantifies both viable and VBNC cells of C. concisus, promising accurate bacterial load assessment. These findings underscore the potential significance of the VBNC state in C. concisus survival and transmission.
Bacterial flagella play an important role in cellular motility, chemotaxis and disease development in the host. Bioinformatic analysis has revealed that, unlike the well-characterized human pathogen, Campylobacter jejuni, C. concisus harbors a single flagellin gene, encoding the flagellar filament protein, upstream of the flagellin glycosylation island (FGI), as do other hydrogen-requiring Campylobacter species. The FGI harbor genes for the biosynthesis of either pseudaminic (Pse) acid or legionaminic (Leg) acid. This study employed swarming motility assay and differential dynamic microscopy to assess C. concisus motility, revealing strain-dependent variability. Motile strains exhibited higher expression of the flagellin gene compared to non-motile strains. Electron microscopy (EM) revealed the presence of polar flagella in some strains that showed higher expression of the flagellin gene. EM also revealed the presence of spherical-shaped outer membrane vesicles similar to that of other Gram-negative bacteria budding out from the outer membrane. A 3D homology model of C. concisus flagellin (CcFla) was generated using bio-computational tools. CcFla harbors four domains (D0-D3) and shares a fold similar to other Gram-negative bacterial flagellins. The inner domains (D0 and D1) that form the core of the flagellar filament are common to all the available flagellin structures whereas the outer domains (D2 and D3) varied among bacterial species in terms of their sequence, packing, and oligomeric state within the filament. Comparative analysis with the DALI server identified conserved hydrophobic and β-hairpin motifs. Modpred server predicted multiple O-glycosylation sites on CcFla. These findings unveil structural features potentially relevant for host immune response and cross-reactivity with other Campylobacter species.
The thesis further explores the role of outer membrane proteins including flagella and post-translational modification, and their role in host cell adhesion and invasion. OMPs play an important role in Gram-negative bacteria for growth, survival, and pathogenesis. Flagellin O-glycosylation is essential for proper flagellar formation, motility, and virulence. Profiling the OMP repertoire of C. concisus has revealed distinct variations in banding patterns across different strains within each genomospecies. Predominant OMPs were identified using Nano liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nano-LC-ESI MS/MS). These include major outer membrane protein, flagellin, motility protein B, Elongation factor-Tu (Ef-Tu) and phase proteins. The flagellin protein (53 kDa in size) was present in some strains coinciding with their higher motility. Notably, flagellated GS2 strains exhibited greater diversity in OMP profiles compared to their non-flagellated counterparts. Furthermore, flagellated GS2 strains harboured Ef-Tu and phage proteins, which were absent in GS1 strains. Whole genomic analysis confirmed the incorporation of lysogenic phage genomes only into the genomes of tested GS2 strains. Genomic analysis has also corroborated that flagellin glycosylation islands within C. concisus genomes harbor a single flagellin, alongside genes responsible for the biosynthesis of either pseudaminic acid (Pse) or legionaminic acid (Leg). The nano-LC-ESI MS/MS unveiled strain-specific variations in flagellin O-glycosylation patterns. Interestingly, flagellin was found to be modified with either Pse or Leg and their derivatives, but not both simultaneously. Notably, Leg acid modification was found to be only in GS2 strains. Through 3D mapping, it was revealed that the majority of glycosylation sites were situated within the outer domains (D2-D3) of the flagellin structure. These findings underscore the diverse distribution of glycosylation within C. concisus flagellin.
The virulence potential of the characterized strains was assessed through examination of their adherence and invasion capacity. All strains of C. concisus, spanning both genomospecies, displayed adherence to human enterocyte-like Caco-2 cells. However, notable differences in invasion proportions were observed among the tested strains. Specifically, the flagellated strains exhibited higher adherence and invasion potential as compared with the non-flagellated strains. Notably, strains with a higher number of modifications on their flagellin demonstrated significantly higher adhesion and invasion potential compared to those with fewer modifications. Given the outer domain's recognized antigenic nature, this suggests a pivotal role in host-pathogen interactions. These findings have provided important insights into the role of flagella in C. concisus virulence and host colonization.</p
Interactive Structural Topology Optimisation Considering Subjective Preferences
No full textTopology optimisation techniques are increasingly used for creating innovative and efficient structures by redistributing given materials to their most needed locations. However, these techniques typically focus purely on structural performance, often neglecting subjective design requirements, such as aesthetic quality. This thesis is aimed at advancing topology optimisation techniques to produce structures that effectively balance creative forms with structural engineering principles. The thesis makes the following contributions.
First, a novel smoothing method is proposed to smooth structural designs obtained by element-based topology optimisation, specifically for the widely used bi-directional evolutionary structural optimisation (BESO) method. The proposed method can efficiently smooth the zig-zag boundaries of the optimised structures by using pre-built lookup tables modified from marching geometry algorithms. Additionally, the smoothing method employs a bi-section approach to preserve the structural volume, ensuring that both unsmoothed and smoothed structures are equivalent. The effectiveness of this smoothing method is demonstrated through a series of 2D and 3D examples; the results show that the structural stiffness can be slightly improved after smoothing.
Second, the BESO method has been advanced to SP-BESO by integrating designers’ subjective preferences (SP) into optimisation for 2D structural designs. This novel method introduces interactive systems that allow designers to input preferences by explicitly scoring and drawing. Subsequently, the inputs are converted into weights to guide material redistribution to create topologically different and structurally efficient solutions. The proposed smoothing method is used to refine the solutions so that designers can decide their subjective preferences in subsequent design exploration. Additionally, a user-friendly digital design tool, iBESO, has been developed. This tool can simultaneously execute four SP-BESO optimisers to assist designers in 2D structural design. Experiments with iBESO reveal that the combination of parameters used in the scoring and drawing systems can effectively control whether the final solutions are performance-driven or preference-driven designs.
Third, a novel design exploration strategy is proposed, which integrates virtual reality (VR) with SP-BESO to create desirable 3D structures through effective human--computer collaboration. This strategy uses VR sculpting to realise immersive visualisation, intuitive design exploration, and real-time feedback, with the sculpted models influencing material redistribution in topology optimisation. The sculpting--optimisation workflow can be repeated in multiple cycles. This iterative process allows for the continuous refinement of subjective preferences until a final design meets all design requirements. A digital design tool, VR-BESO, has been developed to implement and demonstrate the proposed strategy. The results show that this strategy can effectively harness the strengths of human creativity and computational power to enhance the efficiency of design exploration and the quality of optimised structures.
Overall, this thesis has significantly advanced structural design and optimisation by integrating subjective preferences into topology optimisation. It has introduced innovative methodologies, developed advanced digital tools, and enhanced human--computer interaction, laying a strong foundation for future research and practical applications. These contributions mark a substantial progression in creating engineering solutions that are more adaptable and responsive to user needs.</p
Novel Multifunctional Cationic Lipid Hybrids for Therapeutic Applications in Cancer - Synthesis, Formulation, Characterization, and in vitro Drug Delivery
No full textPermanently charged cationic lipids are important excipients used in lipid-based drug and gene delivery systems. However, they can be toxic and are known to trigger unwanted biological responses including apoptosis, hemolysis, and immune responses via interactions with a variety of extracellular and intracellular proteins. They are also known to be rapidly cleared in vivo. Their toxicity is mainly attributed to their positively charged head group, although other molecular domains may also contribute. One strategy to harness the inherent toxicity of cationic lipids is via the rational design of lipids with cytotoxicity selectively targeted towards cancer cell lines. The main aim of this thesis is to design and synthesize permanently charged cationic lipids which are selectively cytotoxic by systematically altering the molecular architecture of the cationic lipid. Cubosome lipid nanocarriers are investigated throughout the thesis as potential drug delivery vectors for the synthesised cytotoxic cationic lipids, including in combination therapy with either a small molecule therapeutic or siRNA. As individual drugs differ in their pharmacokinetic properties due to differences in their solubilities it is ideal to combine them in a single nano vector at an appropriate ratio to achieve the desired therapeutic effect. Lipid based drug delivery systems are widely used for drug delivery purposes due to their biocompatibility. Cubosomes, which have a porous internal nanostructure of 3D cubic symmetry, are gaining increased attention in nanomedicine owing to a range of advantages. Their increased bilayer surface area allows higher loading of hydrophobic drugs. They have good thermodynamic stability, and their unique fusion mechanism of interaction with biological membranes may improve delivery efficacy of the encapsulated cargo. Research interest in cubosomes for the delivery of therapeutics and as vaccines has grown exponentially over the last two decades. Doping of cubosomes with cationic lipids (either permanently charged or ionizable) is increasingly used in drug and gene delivery as positively charged particles display improved cellular uptake and enhanced loading for anionic moieties such as RNA-based therapeutics and vaccines. The thesis aims to answer the following research questions: 1. How does the structure of cationic lipids affect their cytotoxicity towards cancerous and non-cancerous cells? 2. Can the cytotoxicity of cationic lipids be improved via delivery in a cubosome nanocarrier? 3. How does the lipid structure affect the phase behaviour and cellular uptake of the cubosomes? 4. Can cubosomes functionalised with cationic lipids be used in combination therapy for the treatment of cancer cells? Much of the research presented herein is based on an earlier research study from my research group (CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad, India) based on cationic lipid hybrids of anisic acid and cordiarimide. Lipid analogues were synthesised with a range of chain lengths from C2 to C18 and their cytotoxicity evaluated. Both the lipo-anisamide and cordiarimide analogues revealed moderate to potent anticancer activity in analogues with chain lengths in the range C7 – C14. Although C12M (lipo-anisamide) exhibited weak anticancer activity, NP C12 (lipo-cordiarimide) was observed to exert good anti-cancer activity against the liver cancer cell line Hep G2 and prostate cancer cell line PC-3. In addition, those analogues having a C12 carbon chain exhibited selective and efficient inhibition of human DNA ligase I (hLigI), an enzyme involved in DNA damage repair which is known to play a role in the development of cancer drug resistance. In contrast, little or no inhibition of other human ligases (hLigIIIβ and hLigIV/XRCC4) and bacterial T4 DNA ligase was observed. Thus, the 12 carbon chain length analogue, which demonstrated both reasonable anticancer activity and selective inhibition hLig I, was selected as optimal for the synthesis of the cationic lipids tested in this thesis. Herein, the data obtained in this previous research study was extended towards the synthesis of four novel cationic lipids with potential anticancer activity. These lipids were integrated into cubosomes, and the resultant structural modifications were linked to their molecular structure and concentration of the additive lipids, both in the presence and absence of serum. The ability of cationic cubosomes to kill cancer cells was investigated and was linked to both their inherent cytotoxicity and the cellular uptake of these lipids. Finally, the ability of these novel cationic cubosomes to co-deliver either a small molecule chemotherapeutic (paclitaxel) or siRNA was assessed. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the literature relevant to the studies presented in this thesis. The chapter introduces the complex nature of cancer and the failure of some conventional treatment strategies. Modifications to conventional chemotherapy, including combination therapy involving molecular hybrids such as cationic lipid hybrids is described. An overview of common nanodrug delivery systems of prospective use in combination treatment, with simultaneous co-delivery of two or more drugs to the site of action is provided. The discussion focusses on lipid based nanocarriers as these are studied in the thesis. How the molecular architecture of the lipid dictates its self-assembly into a variety of lipid nanocarriers like liposomes, micelles and inverse bicontinuous cubic phases is described. Finally, a short review of cubosomes is presented, discussing their advantages in drug delivery, different formulation techniques, the phase behaviour of cubosomes in different environments and with various additives, surface functionalization of cubosomes, protein corona formation and its effect on cellular uptake behaviour, the cytotoxicity of cubosomes, and their pharmaceutical applications. In Chapter 2, the evolution of the research field in the synthesis and characterisation of permanently charged cationic lipids is critically reviewed. The significance of molecular hybridization in crafting novel cationic lipids, characterized by a permanent positive charge in the headgroup region, is reviewed in depth. Preliminary structure-activity relationships are derived between the lipid structure (headgroup, spacer, hydrocarbon chain) and the self-assembled nanostructure adopted. In some cases, these structural features may be additionally linked to the intrinsic biological activity of the multifunctional cationic lipids in diverse applications in transfection, targeting and as therapeutic lipids or bioactive excipients. This review has been submitted to Small Science and is currently undergoing editor requested revision. Chapter 3 focuses on DMP12, a bifunctional cationic lipid hybrid designed for targeted cancer therapy. DMP12 conjugates the potential pharmacophore 3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl) propionic acid to twin 12 carbon chain bearing a positively charged quaternary ammonium group. Encapsulation of DMP12 into cubosomes and the resulting changes in phase behaviour are assessed. The novelty of this study lies in exploring the potential of combination therapy, including the cytotoxic DMP12 and the small molecule therapeutic paclitaxel, against a paclitaxel-resistant prostate cancer cell-line. A synergistic effect was observed with co-delivery of DMP12 with paclitaxel achieving significantly higher levels of cell death, compared to control cubosomes loaded with either DMP12 or paclitaxel. While in vivo validation is essential, in vitro studies show that the rational design of DMP12 has led to improved loading efficiency in cubosomes and synergistic activity in combination with paclitaxel against resistant cancer cells. This study therefore highlights the potential of multifunctional cationic lipids in cancer therapy, particularly in combination with classical chemotherapeutics, resulting in selective cytotoxicity towards specific cancer lines while remaining hemocompatible. This chapter has been published in the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (1). In Chapter 4 the impact of the cationic lipid architecture on the phase behaviour of the cubosomes, their cellular uptake, and their cytotoxicity, particularly against cancer cells was investigated. Three novel cationic lipids, CCA12, ETD12, and U12 (each containing a pharmacophore linked to a twin 12 carbon chain bearing quaternary ammonium group) were designed and synthesized. The pharmacophore group was designed with increased size considerations resulting in lipids with systematically varying molecular architecture. All three lipids displayed a wedge-shaped molecular architecture with critical packing parameters (CPP) values expected to be >>1. The concentration-dependent phase transitions observed when these lipids were doped into MO cubosomes were consistent with the individual molecular architecture of each lipid. Transitions from the inverse bicontinuous primitive cubic (QIIP) phase adopted by pure monoolein cubosomes to more curved phases, such as inverse bicontinuous diamond cubic (QIID) and inverse hexagonal (HII) phases, were observed as the lipid concentration increased. For U12, the lipid containing the largest hydrophobic moiety, phase changes were observed at the lowest lipid loading. Compared to both the neutral lipid monoolein and the other cationic lipids (ETD12 and U12), CCA12 cubosomes displayed significantly higher uptake and cytotoxicity in a gastric cancer cell line (AGS). Cubosome zeta-potential was positively correlated with the AGS cell uptake. CCA12 cubosomes displayed the highest cytotoxicity against AGS cells, which was attributed to both the inherent cytotoxicity and high levels of cellular uptake. This work is in press at the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science.Using multifunctional molecules or combining multiple molecules which can intervene with different pharmacological targets is considered as a promising strategy to treat cancer. In Chapter 5 cationic cubosomes were assessed for their ability to co-deliver both the cationic lipid CCA12 and the small molecule therapeutic paclitaxel to a prostate-resistant cancer cell?line DU-145. Results were compared to delivery of CCA12 and PTX individually and using a loose dose combination. The CCA12 lipid was observed to be hemocompatible and serum 5 albumin compatible. The concentration of the PTX affects the encapsulation efficiency; at higher PTX concentrations the encapsulation efficiency was generally lower. Finally, in Chapter 5 the ability of CCA12 doped cubosomes to successfully deliver antisurvivin siRNA to PC-3 cells was assessed. Both gel retardation and DLS studies indicated that 2.5mol% CCA12 cationic cubosomes completely encapsulated the antisurvivin siRNA (15:1 ratio). A gene silencing study using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT?PCR) indicated that the CCA12 cubosomes successfully transfected antisurvivin siRNA into PC-3 cell line and silenced the survivin levels in the cells. This early proof-of-concept study exemplifies the potential of cationic cubosomes as gene delivery carriers, with equivalent efficiency to the commercial transfection agent Lipofectamine. Overall, the work presented in this thesis showcases the practical application of the multifunctional cationic lipids in the effective treatment of drug resistant prostate cancer cell lines in combination with the classical anticancer therapeutic, paclitaxel co-delivered using monoolein based cubosomes. This work is also an important step towards understanding the impact of the molecular architecture on the phase behaviour of the cubosomes which facilitates the rational design of cationic lipid excipients targeted to specific biomedical applications.</p
Statistical Information Fusion for Multi-Camera Visual Tracking
No full textMulti-camera visual tracking is a challenging yet essential problem in a growing number of applications, where the ability to accurately track the states of multiple dynamic objects using a network of cameras with limited fields of-views (FoVs) is vital. With increasing availability and decreasing cost of cameras, camera networks are growing in size and used to track greater numbers of objects, resulting in an increasing dependence on accurate, robust, and computationally efficient information fusion. Intelligent vehicles are a primary application of multi-object tracking (MOT), where mobile camera-equipped vehicles can track large numbers of mobile objects, relying on information being shared and fused between vehicles in the network. Recent random finite set (RFS) based approaches have demonstrated increased tracking accuracy in dynamic scenarios compared to traditional Bayesian methods. The focus of most research on multi-object tracking is on the tracking filter and information fusion, with the states of the sensors being assumed knowledge. Controlling the states of the sensors to generate optimal observations of the objects is vital in achieving accurate tracking. This thesis first explores the estimation and control of the states of a distributed and dynamic network of cameras in the context of MOT. This work explores the possibility of estimating the states of the cameras using just the captured images, rather than external sensors. First. a method of distributively estimating camera orientations that utilizes the available temporal information in a dynamic camera network is proposed. This is then extended to estimate the locations of the cameras, allowing for estimation of the camera states in their entirety. Finally, this work also proposes multiple distributed cooperative multi-sensor control algorithms, with the aim of positioning the sensors to capture more informative measurements of the objects.</p