It is not necessary to register these environment variables in /etc/environment, which means that the Unity sidebar will not be affected.
Instead register the environment variables temporarily either as local user or via sudo -i:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/MCR/v84/runtime/glnxa64:/opt/MCR/v84/bin/glnxa64:/opt/MCR/v84/sys/os/glnxa64:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
export XAPPLRESDIR="/opt/MCR/v84/X11/app-defaults"
Now it is possible to run Matlab Apps without "killing" Ubuntu's desktop. For instance to run the Java compiled makesqr.m file. The Java package makesqr was created using "Matlab's JavaBuilder tutorial". This was done on my Windows 7 machine, which runs Matlab R2014b.
java -classpath "/opt/MCR/v84/toolbox/javabuilder/jar/javabuilder.jar:/media/sf_shared/for_testing/makesqr.jar" makesqr.Class1 5
Please ensure that the owner and permissions of the /opt/MCR and /media/sf_shared/for_testing folders are set correctly (see here for details).