Search results for: weighted Hardy spaces

Authors: Fumihiro Imai, Shinichi Watanabe, Shingo Maeda, Haruna Imai, Hiroki Niimi

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It is important to know the growth rate of brain tumors before surgery because it influences treatment planning, including not only surgical resection strategy but also adjuvant therapy after surgery. Amide proton transfer (APT) imaging is an emerging molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique based on chemical exchange saturation transfer without the administration of a contrast medium. The underlying assumption in APT imaging of tumors is that there is a close relationship between the proliferative activity of the tumor and mobile protein synthesis. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of APT imaging of pre-and post-treatment brain tumors. Ten patients with brain tumor underwent conventional and APT-weighted sequences on a 3.0 Tesla MRI before clinical intervention. The maximum and the minimum APT-weighted signals (APTWmax and APTWmin) in each solid tumor region were obtained and compared before and after a clinical intervention. All surgical specimens were examined for histopathological diagnosis. Eight of ten patients underwent adjuvant therapy after surgery. Histopathological diagnosis was glioma in 7 patients (WHO grade 2 in 2 patients, WHO grade 3 in 3 patients, and WHO grade 4 in 2 patients), meningioma WHO grade 1 in 2 patients, and primary lymphoma of the brain in 1 patient. High-grade gliomas showed significantly higher APTW signals than that low-grade gliomas. APTWmax in one huge parasagittal meningioma infiltrating into the skull bone was higher than that in glioma WHO grade 4. On the other hand, APTWmax in another convexity meningioma was the same as that in glioma WHO grade 3. Diagnosis of primary lymphoma of the brain was possible with APT imaging before pathological confirmation. APTW signals in residual tumors decreased dramatically within one year after adjuvant therapy in all patients. APT imaging demonstrated excellent diagnostic performance for the planning of surgery and adjuvant therapy of brain tumors.

Keywords: amides, magnetic resonance imaging, brain tumors, cell proliferation

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Authors: Shishay Kidanu, Abdullah Alhaj

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Sinkholes in the karst terrain of Greene County, Missouri, pose significant geohazards, imposing challenges on construction and infrastructure development, with potential threats to lives and property. To address these issues, understanding the influencing factors and modeling sinkhole susceptibility is crucial for effective mitigation through strategic changes in land use planning and practices. This study utilizes geographic information system (GIS) software to collect and process diverse data, including topographic, geologic, hydrogeologic, and anthropogenic information. Nine key sinkhole influencing factors, ranging from slope characteristics to proximity to geological structures, were carefully analyzed. The Frequency Ratio method establishes relationships between attribute classes of these factors and sinkhole events, deriving class weights to indicate their relative importance. Weighted integration of these factors is accomplished using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) method in a GIS environment, resulting in a comprehensive sinkhole susceptibility index (SSI) model for the study area. Employing Jenk's natural break classifier method, the SSI values are categorized into five distinct sinkhole susceptibility zones: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. Validation of the model, conducted through the Area Under Curve (AUC) and Sinkhole Density Index (SDI) methods, demonstrates a robust correlation with sinkhole inventory data. The prediction rate curve yields an AUC value of 74%, indicating a 74% validation accuracy. The SDI result further supports the success of the sinkhole susceptibility model. This model offers reliable predictions for the future distribution of sinkholes, providing valuable insights for planners and engineers in the formulation of development plans and land-use strategies. Its application extends to enhancing preparedness and minimizing the impact of sinkhole-related geohazards on both infrastructure and the community.

Keywords: sinkhole, GIS, analytical hierarchy process, frequency ratio, susceptibility, Missouri

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Authors: Kirsty Liddiard

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In this paper, we detail the politics and practicalities of co-produced disability research with disabled young people with life-limiting and life-threatening impairments in our ESRC funded project, Life, Death, Disability and the Human: Living Life to the Fullest. We centre our Co-Researcher Collective of disabled young people who, through virtual research methods and social technologies, are co-leading this innovative project exploring the lives, hopes, desires and ambitions of young disabled people living short(er) lives. Co-production is an established approach; however, our co-researchers have led us to develop inclusive and transformative research practices that engage with online social research methods in innovative ways. Through this discussion, we demarcate the Academy and ‘research process’ as potentially deeply ableist spaces that propogate the normative researcher as non-disabled; someone integrated into the Academy and insecure employment; and who enacts normative modes of leadership. We use our experiences of co-production in Living Life to the Fullest, then, to show that research – as a discipline, a set of politics, and scholarly practice – must be transformed in order to enable new inclusive research futures that support meaningful co-production with marginalised young people. In conclusion, as we detail our experiences, we aim to encourage disability studies researchers and others to adopt virtual environments and social technologies when researching with and for the lives of disabled people.

Keywords: co-production, illness, youth, technology

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Authors: Suraj Nair, Aravindkumar Vijayalingam, Alexander Perzylo, Alois Knoll

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In the last decade robotics research and development activities have grown rapidly, especially in the domain of service robotics. Integrating service robots into human occupied spaces such as homes, offices, hospitals, etc. has become increasingly worked upon. The primary motive is to ease daily lives of humans by taking over some of the household/office chores. However, several challenges remain in systematically integrating such systems in human shared work-spaces. In addition to sensing and indoor-navigation challenges, programmability of such systems is a major hurdle due to the fact that the potential user cannot be expected to have knowledge in robotics or similar mechatronic systems. In this paper, we propose a cognitive system for service robotics which allows non-expert users to easily model system behaviour in an underspecified manner through abstract tasks and objects associated with them. The system uses domain knowledge expressed in the form of an ontology along with logical reasoning mechanisms to infer all the missing pieces of information required for executing the tasks. Furthermore, the system is also capable of recovering from failed tasks arising due to on-line disturbances by using the knowledge base and inferring alternate methods to execute the same tasks. The system is demonstrated through a coffee fetching scenario in an office environment using a mobile robot equipped with sensors and software capabilities for autonomous navigation and human-interaction through natural language.

Keywords: cognitive robotics, reasoning, service robotics, task based systems

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Authors: Chenxu Fang, Qikai Guan

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Riverside public space in mountainous cities has unique scenic resources and humanistic connotations and is an important place indispensable to the activities of urban residents. In recent years, with the continuous development of society and the expansion of the city, the public space along the riverside has been affected to a certain extent. Based on this, this study is based on the concept of health and safety through the study of riverfront space in the local section of Jialing River in Chongqing City; according to the actual use function of riverfront public space, the riverfront public space in mountainous cities is categorized into leisure and recreational riverfront space, ecological conservation waterfront space, and composite function waterfront space. Starting from the health and safety elements affecting the environment in the riverfront public space, the health and safety influencing factors of the riverfront public space are categorized into three major categories, namely, material, non-material, and social, and through the field research and questionnaire collection, combined with the analysis of the Likert scale, the important levels of the health and safety influencing factors of different types of the riverfront public space of the mountainous cities are clarified. We summarize the factors affecting the health and safety of mountainous riverside spaces, map their importance levels to the design of different types of riverside spaces, and put forward three representative paths for the governance of the safety and health of mountainous riverside public space.

Keywords: health and safety, mountain city, riverfront public space, spatial governance, Chongqing Jialing River

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Authors: Pulakesh Das, Mukunda Dev Behera, Manchiraju Sri Ramachandra Murthy

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Large numbers of people living in and around the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, depends on this diverse mountainous region for ecosystem services. Following the global trend, this region also experiencing rapid population growth, and demand for timber and agriculture land. The eight countries sharing the HKH region have different forest resources utilization and conservation policies that exert varying forces in the forest ecosystem. This created a variable spatial as well altitudinal gradient in rate of deforestation and corresponding forest patch fragmentation. The quantitative relationship between fragmentation and demography has not been established before for HKH vis-à-vis along elevation gradient. This current study was carried out to attribute the overall and different nature in landscape fragmentations along the altitudinal gradient with the demography of each sharing countries. We have used the tree canopy cover data derived from Landsat data to analyze the deforestation and afforestation rate, and corresponding landscape fragmentation observed during 2000 – 2010. Area-weighted mean radius of gyration (AMN radius of gyration) was computed owing to its advantage as spatial indicator of fragmentation over non-spatial fragmentation indices. Using the subtraction method, the change in fragmentation was computed during 2000 – 2010. Using the tree canopy cover data as a surrogate of forest cover, highest forest loss was observed in Myanmar followed by China, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, and Afghanistan. However, the sequence of fragmentation was different after the maximum fragmentation observed in Myanmar followed by India, China, Bangladesh, and Bhutan; whereas increase in fragmentation was seen following the sequence of as Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Using SRTM-derived DEM, we observed higher rate of fragmentation up to 2400m that corroborated with high human population for the year 2000 and 2010. To derive the nature of fragmentation along the altitudinal gradients, the Statistica software was used, where the user defined function was utilized for regression applying the Gauss-Newton estimation method with 50 iterations. We observed overall logarithmic decrease in fragmentation change (area-weighted mean radius of gyration), forest cover loss and population growth during 2000-2010 along the elevation gradient with very high R2 values (i.e., 0.889, 0.895, 0.944 respectively). The observed negative logarithmic function with the major contribution in the initial elevation gradients suggest to gap filling afforestation in the lower altitudes to enhance the forest patch connectivity. Our finding on the pattern of forest fragmentation and human population across the elevation gradient in HKH region will have policy level implication for different nations and would help in characterizing hotspots of change. Availability of free satellite derived data products on forest cover and DEM, grid-data on demography, and utility of geospatial tools helped in quick evaluation of the forest fragmentation vis-a-vis human impact pattern along the elevation gradient in HKH.

Keywords: area-weighted mean radius of gyration, fragmentation, human impact, tree canopy cover

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Authors: Kathryn Ewing

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Safe and accessible public spaces are vital elements of our South African cities. Public spaces hold the potential to act as important, vibrant places for learning, exchange, and practice. Public walkways, however, are some of the most neglected and extremely dangerous public spaces experienced in the local neighborhood of Gugulethu in Cape Town. Walkways feel insignificant, being recognized as informal and undetermined or retain complex fragments of formal erven. They are generally out of sight connecting minor streets and informal settlements. Community residents refer to the walkways as unsafe and dirty spaces. Local authorities allocate minimal to no municipal budgets nor maintenance plans resulting in a lack of basic services, particularly lighting and green infrastructure. ‘The Walkway Project’ presents a series of urban stories collected from co-design workshops, emotional mapping exercises, and fieldwork, including urban walks and urban talks. The narrative interprets the socio-spatial practice and complexity of informal public space in Gugulethu, Cape Town. The Walkway Project research, interrelated to the Master of Urban Design teaching and design-research studio, has a strong focus on participatory and engaged learning and action research methodology within a deliberate pedagogy. A consolidated urban design implementation plan exposes the impact and challenges of waste and water, opening the debate on relevant local solutions for resilience and safety in Cape Town. A small and neglected passage connecting two streets, commonly referred to as iThemba Walkway, is presented as a case study to show-case strategic urban design intervention strategies for urban upgrading. The iThemba walkway is a community-driven project that demonstrates active and responsible co-design and participatory development opportunities. In March 2021, when visited on an urban walk, the public space was covered by rubble and solid waste. By April 2021, the community cleaned the walkway and created an accessible passage for the school children to pass. Numerous co-design workshops have taken place over the past year. The walkway has emerged as a public space upgrading project facilitated, motivated, and implemented by multiple local partners and residents. Social maps from urban walks and talks illustrate the transformation of iThemba Walkway into an inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable urban space, linked to Sustainable Development Goal number 11, sustainable cities and communities. The outcomes of the upgrading project facilitate a deeper understanding of co-design methods, urban upgrading processes, and monitoring of public space and informal urbanism.

Keywords: informal, public space, resilience, safety, upgrade, walkways

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Authors: Jessica Ding

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The field of global health is currently advocating for a resurgence in the use of traditional medicines to improve people-centered care. Healthcare policies are rapidly changing in response; in China, the increasing presence of TCM in the same spaces as biomedicine has led to a new term: integrative medicine. However, the existence of TCM as a part of integrative medicine creates a pressing paradoxical tension where TCM is both seen as a marginalized system within ‘modern’ hospitals and as a modality worth integrating. Additionally, the impact of such shifts has not been fully explored: the World Health Organization for one focuses only on three angles —practices, products, and practitioners— with regards to traditional medicines. Through ten weeks of fieldwork conducted at an urban hospital in Shanghai, China, this research expands the perspective of existing strategies by looking at integrative care through a fourth lens: patients and families. The understanding of self-care, health-seeking behavior, and non-professional caregiving structures are critical to grasping the significance of traditional medicine for people-centered care. Indeed, those individual and informal health care expectations align with the very spaces and needs that traditional medicine has filled before such ideas of integration. It specifically looks at this issue via three processes that operationalize experiences of care: (1) how aspects of TCM are valued within integrative medicine, (2) how negotiations of care occur between patients and doctors, and (3) how 'good quality' caregiving presents in integrative clinical spaces. This research hopes to lend insight into how culturally embedded traditions, bureaucratic and institutional rationalities, and social patterns of health-seeking behavior influence care to shape illness experiences at the intersection of two medical modalities. This analysis of patients’ clinical and illness experiences serves to enrich the narratives of integrative medical care’s ability to provide patient-centered care to determine how international policies are realized at the individual level. This anthropological study of the integration of Traditional Chinese medicine in local contexts can reveal the extent to which global strategies, as promoted by the WHO and the Chinese government actually align with the expectations and perspectives of patients receiving care. Ultimately, this ethnographic analysis of a local Chinese context hopes to inform global policies regarding the future use and integration of traditional medicines.

Keywords: emergent systems, global health, integrative medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, TCM

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Authors: Fatema Tasmia, Brishti Majumder, Atiqur Rahman

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Attaining appropriate thermal comfort conditions in a place where the climate is hot and humid can be perplexing. Especially, when it resides at a congested place like old Dhaka Bangladesh, the provision of giving cross ventilation and building with proper orientation is quite difficult. This paper aims to investigate the indoor thermal environment of a room with and without transitional space or threshold in traditional row houses adjacent to a narrow alley of old Dhaka through field measurements. Transitional spaces are the part of buildings which are used for semi-outdoor household activities, social gathering and it is also proved to provide an indoor thermal effect. The field study was conducted by collecting thermal data (temperature, humidity and airflow) respectively, among the outdoor narrow alley, transitional space and adjacent indoor. This east-west elongated alley has an average width of 2.13 meter (varies from 1.5 to 2.6 meter) holding row houses on both sides. Among different aspects of thermal environment, the study of this paper is based on the analysis of temperature of corresponding cases. Other aspects and their variables were considered as constant (especially material) for accuracy and avoidance of confusion. This study focuses on the outcome that can ultimately contribute to the configuration of row houses with transitional spaces and in its relation to the adjacent outdoor space while achieving thermal comfort.

Keywords: alley, Old-Dhaka, row houses, temperature, thermal comfort, threshold, transitional space

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Authors: Wathig Hashim Mohamed Ibrahim

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Twenty Five polymorphic microsatellite out of 50 Loci were used to genotype some camel (Camelus dromedarius) types and subtypes in Sudan (Naylawi, Shanapla, Lahawi, Kinani, Rashaydi, Bani-Aamir, Annafi, Bishari Shallagyai and Bishari Arririt) and that from Qatar (OmmaniHJ, OmmaniKH, Majaheem, Pakistani Sindi, Pakistani Punjabi and Pakistani) and for comparative; one type from Somalia (Aarhou) and another from Chad (Spotted) were investigated. The highest number of alleles were 23 in Locus CVRL 01, and lowest were 2 in YWLL 59. The observed heterozygosity (Hobs) were 0.950 and 0.049 for VOLP08 and YWLL09, respectively, while the expected heterozygosity (HExp) were 0.915 and 0.362 for Locus VOLP67 and YWLL58, respectively, and the HExp mean was 0.7378. Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) ranged between 0.907 - 0.345 in Locus VOLP67 and YWLL58, and the PIC mean was 0.7002. The genetic distance ranged between 0.545 – 0.098 for Shallagyai (Bishari subtype) – Pakistani Sindi subtype and between Annafi - Rashaydi, respectively. The genetic distance between spotted and all types ranged between 0.223 with Arririt (Bishari subtype) and 0.463 with Punjabi (Pakistani subtype) that found in Qatar, while all types with Aarhou ranged between 0.215 for Arririt and 0.469 with Punjabi (Pakistani subtype). The dondrogram shows that there is a relationship between the genetic makeup and geographical distributions and also between the genetic makeup and phenotypic characteristic. Individual assignment was calculated, 46.62% correctly assigned and 46.87% quality index. Hardy Weinberg Equivalent (HWE) was also calculated. Key words: Camel, genotype, polymorphic microsatellite

Keywords: camel, genotype, polymorphic microsatellite, types and subtypes

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Authors: Elham Kiyani, S. Mansour Vaezpour, Javad Tavakoli

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In this paper, we first introduce a new distance function in a linear space not necessarily endowed with a topology. The algebraic concepts of interior and closure are useful to study optimization problems without topology. So, we define Q-weak efficient solutions generated by the algebraic interior of a set Q, where Q is not necessarily convex. Studying nonconvex vector optimization is valuable since, for a convex cone K in topological spaces, we have int(K)=cor(K), which means that topological interior of a convex cone K is equal to the algebraic interior of K. Moreover, we used the scalarization technique including the distance function generated by the vectorial closure of a set to characterize these Q-weak efficient solutions. Scalarization is a useful approach for solving vector optimization problems. This technique reduces the optimization problem to a scalar problem which tends to be an optimization problem with a real-valued objective function. For instance, Q-weak efficient solutions of vector optimization problems can be characterized and computed as solutions of appropriate scalar optimization problems. In the convex case, linear functionals can be used as objective functionals of the scalar problems. But in the nonconvex case, we should present a suitable objective function. It is the aim of this paper to present a new distance function that be useful to obtain sufficient and necessary conditions for Q-weak efficient solutions of general optimization problems via scalarization.

Keywords: weak efficient, algebraic interior, vector closure, linear space

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Authors: Malihe Ahmadi

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Nowadays, stress, tension and neural problems are among the most important concerns of the present age. The environment plays key role on improving mental health and reducing stress of citizens. Establishing balance and appropriate relationship between city and natural environment is of the most important approaches of present century. Type of approach and logical planning for urban green spaces as one of the basic sections of integration with nature, not only plays key role on quality and efficiency of comprehensive urban planning; but also it increases the system of distributing social activities and happiness and lively property of urban environments that leads to permanent urban development. The main purpose of recovering urban identity is considering culture, history and human life style in past. This is a documentary-library research that evaluates the historical properties of Iranian gardens in compliance with climate condition. Results of this research reveal that in addition to following Iranian gardens from common principles of land lot, structure of flowers and plants, water, specific buildings during different ages, the role of climate at different urban areas is among the basics of determining method of designing green spaces and different buildings located at diverse areas i.e. Iranian gardens are a space for merging natural and artificial elements that has inseparable connection with semantic principles and guarantees different functions. Some of the necessities of designing present urban gardens are including: recognition and recreation.

Keywords: historical gardens, climate, properties of Iranian gardens, Iran

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Authors: Ikra Khan, Reenu Singh

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Composition is essential when designing the interiors of residential spaces. The ability to adopt a unique style of using design principles and design elements is another. This research report explores how the visual aesthetic within a space is achieved through the use of design principles and design elements while maintaining a signature style. It also observes the relationship between design styles and compositions that are achieved as a result of the implementation of the principles. Information collected from books and the internet helped to understand how a composition can be achieved in residential interiors by resorting to design principles and design elements as tools for achieving an aesthetic composition. It also helped determine the results of authentic representation of design ideas and how they make one’s work exceptional. A questionnaire survey was also conducted to understand the impact of a visually aesthetic residential interior of a signature style on the lifestyle of individuals residing in them. The findings denote a pattern in the application of design principles and design elements. Individual principles and elements or a combination of the same are used to achieve an aesthetically pleasing composition. This was supported by creating CAD illustrations of two different residential projects with varying approaches and design styles. These illustrations include mood boards, 3D models, and sectional elevations as rendered views to understand the concept design and its translation via these mediums. A direct relation is observed between the application of design principles and design elements to achieve visually aesthetic residential interiors that suit an individual’s taste. These practices can be applied when designing bespoke commercial as well as industrial interiors that are suited to specific aesthetic and functional needs.

Keywords: composition, design principles, elements, interiors, residential spaces

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Authors: Leila Chebaiki-Adli, Naima Chabbi-Chemrouk

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In the Algiers context, the historical city (the old medina) was in the middle age surrounded by several residencies and gardens. They were built in the aim to spend hot days of the year. Among these later, the residences of AbdelTif and the gardens of the dey (which exist always), benefit from important criteria which increase interior comfort. Their know-how is today in trend and can give us several considerations to the architectural design and to the landscape architecture. Their particularity is seen in the built-garden interactions and the design solutions. These later let the user live with vegetation, sky and water through maximum of places in the constructions. On the basis on an aesthetic-tectonic approach, which make in evidence the architectural criteria of the two quoted cases studies (the AbdelTif residence and the gardens of the dey), we will explain in the proposed paper, some important characteristics and design solutions, which contribute strongly to the concretisation and the materialisation of a landscape architecture, and which can be used in all the Mediterranean area. The proposed aesthetic-tectonic approach is based on the fusion between interior and exterior, in the aim to distinguish syntactic criteria. The syntactic criteria correspond to: The composition and the articulation between interior and exterior spaces, the employed materials in the quoted spaces, the manifestation processes. The major finding of this study is the identification of paradigmatic processes related to the architectural design. These later reveal more figurative (direct) than expressive (no direct) way of design and creativeness. While the figurative way benefits from a high level of manifestation, the expressive one benefits from more composed and articulated materials.

Keywords: aesthetic/tectonic approach, Algiers context, design, landscape architecture

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Authors: Carlo Stephen O. Moneva, Sharon Rose M. Tabugo

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The present study aims to assess polymorphism in the prolactin (C576A) gene and determine the influence of different prolactin (PRL) genotypes to milk yield performance in crossbred Anglo-Nubian dairy goats raised from Awang, Opol, Misamis Oriental and Talay, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. Genomic DNA was extracted from hair follicles and Polymerase Chain Reaction – Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was performed for the genotyping of the C576A polymorphism located in exon 5 of goats’ prolactin gene using Eco241 restriction enzyme. Genotypic and allelic frequencies of 0.56 for AA, 0.44 for AB, 0.78 for A, and 0.22 for B were recorded. Observed heterozygosity values were higher than the expected heterozygosity. All populations followed the Hardy–Weinberg principle at p>0.05, except for dairy goats from Farm A located in Opol, Misamis Oriental. A two-way factorial (2 x 4) in a Randomized Complete Block Design was used to be able to evaluate the relationship between genotypes and milk yield performance. PRL genotypes and parity were used as main factors and farm as the blocking factor. AB genotype goats produced significantly higher average daily milk yield and total milk production than AA genotype (p<0.05), an indication that the polymorphism in the caprine PRL (C576A) gene influenced milk yield performance in the population of crossbred Anglo-Nubian goats from Opol, Misamis Oriental and Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. However, these results have to be validated in other dairy goat breeds.

Keywords: polymorphism, prolactin, milk yield, Anglo-Nubian, PCR-RFLP

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Authors: Alexandra Kennedy

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Making use of the notion of ‘epodic spaces’ this paper presents a reconsideration of non-objective art practices, proposing alternatives to established materialist, formalist, process-based conceptualist approaches to such work. In his Neo-Concrete Manifesto (1959) Ferreira Gullar (1930-2016) sought to create a distinction between various forms of non-objective art. He distinguished the ‘geometric’ arts of neoplasticism, constructivism, and suprematism – which he described as ‘dangerously acute rationalism’ – from other non-objective practices. These alternatives, he proposed, have an expressive potential lacking in the former and this formed the basis for their categorisation as neo-concrete. Gullar prioritized the phenomenological over the rational, with an emphasis on the role of the spectator (a key concept of minimalism). Gullar highlighted the central role of sensual experience, colour and the poetic in such work. In the early twentieth century, Russian Cosmism – an esoteric philosophical movement – was highly influential on Russian avant-garde artists and can account for suprematist artists’ interest in, and approach to, planar geometry and four-dimensional space as demonstrated in the abstract paintings of Kasimir Malevich (1879-1935). Nikolai Fyodorov (1823-1903) promoted the idea of anti-gravity and cosmic space as the field for artistic activity. The artist and writer Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939) wrote on the concept of Euclidean space, the overcoming of such rational conceptions of space and the breaking free from the gravitational field and the earth’s sphere. These imaginary spaces, which also invoke a bodily experience, present a poetic dimension to the work of the suprematists. It is a dimension that arguably aligns more with Gullar’s formulation of his neo-concrete rather than that of his alignment of Suprematism with rationalism. While found in experiments with planar geometry, the interest in forms suggestive of an experience of breaking free–both physically from the earth and conceptually from rational, mathematical space (in a pre-occupation with non-Euclidean space and anti-geometry) and in their engagement with the spatial properties of colour, Suprematism presents itself as imaginatively epodic. The paper discusses both historical and contemporary non-objective practices in this context, drawing attention to the manner in which the category of the non-objective is used to categorise art works which are, arguably, qualitatively different.

Keywords: anti-gravity, neo-concrete, non-Euclidian geometry, non-objective painting

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Authors: Afnan T. Bagasi, Donia M. Bettaieb, Abeer Alsobahi

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The wayfinding system is related to the course of the museum journey for visitors directly and indirectly. The design aspects of this system play an important role, making it an effective and communication system within the museum space. However, translating the concepts that pertain to its design, such as Intelligibility that is based on integration and connectivity in museum space design, needs more customization in the form of specific design considerations with reference to the most important approaches. Those approaches link the organizational and practical aspects to the semiotic and semantic aspects related to the space syntax by targeting the visual and perceived consistency of visitors. In this context, the study aims to identify how to apply the concept of intelligibility and clarity by employing integration and connectivity to design a wayfinding system in museums as a kind of composite interior space. Using the available plans and images to extrapolate the design considerations used to design the wayfinding system in the Saudi National Museum as a case study, a descriptive-analytical method was used to understand the basic organizational and morphological principles of the museum space through four main aspects in space design: morphological, semantic, semiotic, and pragmatic. The study's findings will assist designers, professionals, and researchers in the field of museum design in understanding the significance of the wayfinding system by delving into it through museum spaces by highlighting the essential aspects using a clear analytical method.

Keywords: wayfinding system, museum journey, intelligibility, integration, connectivity

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Authors: Haniyeh Okhovat, Mahmood Hosseini, Omid Kaveh Ahangari, Mona Zaryoun

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Shavadoon is a type of underground living space, formerly used in urban residences of Dezful and Shooshtar cities in southwestern Iran. In spite of their high efficiency in creating cool spaces for hot summers of that area, Shavadoons were abandoned, like many other components of vernacular architecture, as a result of the modernism movement. However, Shavadoons were used by the local people as shelters during the 8-year Iran-Iraq war, and although several cases of bombardment happened during those years, no case of damage was reported in those two cities. On this basis, and regarding the high seismicity of Iran, the use of Shavadoons as post-disasters shelters can be considered as a good issue for research. This paper presents the results of a thorough study conducted on these spaces and their seismic behavior. First, the architectural aspects of Shavadoon and their construction technique are presented. Then, the results of seismic evaluation of a sample Shavadoon, conducted by a series of time history analyses, using Plaxis software and a set of selected earthquakes, are briefly explained. These results show that Shavadoons have good stability against seismic excitations. This stability is mainly because of the high strength of conglomerate materials inside which the Shavadoons have been excavated. On this basis, and considering other merits of this components of vernacular architecture in southwest of Iran, it is recommended that the revival of these components is seriously reconsidered by both architects and civil engineers.

Keywords: Shavadoon, Iran high seismicity, Conglomerate, Modeling in Plaxis, Vernacular sustainable architecture

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Authors: Giorgia Predari, Riccardo Gulli

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The paper describes the history and the stylistic choices adopted in the construction of Palazzo Ronzani in Bologna, which was the first building to rise after the heavy demolitions carried out in the historical center of the city at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1910, the local administration adopted a detailed plan to change the aspect of the city, as it was already happening in the main European capitals. In this context, starting from 1911, the architect and scenographer Gualtiero Pontoni designed for Alessandro Ronzani -the owner of a well-known Bolognese beer company- his Palazzo, which is listed among the first multifunctional buildings in Bologna, containing offices, commercial activities, and entertainment spaces. In an area of about 2000 m², the architect was able to propose a theatre with a capacity of 2000 seats at the basement, shops, a cafè-chantant and a restaurant on the ground floor, clubs, studios and commercial stores on the mezzanine and the first plan, and a hotel on the upper floors. The whole core of the building, at the underground levels, consisted of a reinforced concrete frame (one of the first examples of this type of construction in the city), which allowed the hall to have a free span of 11 x 12 meters, and a height of about 9 meters. Used until 2007 as a cinema, the hall has remained then in disuse for almost 10 years, but now an important functional restoration project with a strong architectural and scenographic value is taking place. It will bring the spaces back to the original geometries, in a historical and artistic condition inspired by the styles of the early Twentieth century.

Keywords: Modernissimo, Palazzo Ronzani, liberty, Bologna

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Authors: Pooja Mongia Raj, Rakesh Raj, Alpana Ram

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Background: The use of multiparticulate drug delivery systems in preference to single unit dosage forms for colon targeting purposes dates back to 1985 when Hardy and co-workers showed that multiparticulate systems enabled the drug to reach the colon quickly and were retained in the ascending colon for a relatively long period of time. Methods: Site-specific colonic drug delivery system (nanoparticles) of 5-ASA were prepared and coated with pH sensitive polymer. Chitosan nanoparticles (CTNP) bearing 5-Amino salicylic acid (5-ASA) were prepared, by ionotropic gelation method. Nanoparticulate dosage form consisting of a hydrophobic core enteric coated with pH-dependent polymer Eudragit S-100 by solvent evaporation method, for the effective delivery of drug to the colon for treatment of ulcerative colitis. Results: The mean diameter of CTNP and ECTNP formulations were 159 and 661 nm, respectively. Also optimum value of polydispersity index was found to be 0.249 [count rate (kcps) was 251.2] and 0.170 [count rate (kcps) was 173.9] was obtained for both the formulations respectively. Conclusion: CTNP and Eudragit chitosan nanoparticles (ECTNP) was characterized for shape and surface morphology by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) appeared to be spherical in shape. The in vitro drug release was investigated using USP dissolution test apparatus in different simulated GIT fluids showed promising release. In vivo experiments are in further proceeding for fruitful results.

Keywords: colon targeting, nanoparticles, polymer, 5-amino salicylic acid, edragit

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Authors: Lucie Jirotková, Daniel Macek, Andrea Palazzo, Veronika Malinová

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Currently, the implementation of 3D models in the construction industry is gaining popularity. Countries around the world are developing their own modelling standards and implement the use of 3D models into their individual permitting processes. Another theme that needs to be addressed are public building spaces and their subsequent maintenance, where the usage of BIM methodology is directly offered. The significant benefit of the implementation of Building Information Management is the information transfer. The 3D model contains not only the spatial representation of the item shapes but also various parameters that are assigned to the individual elements, which are easily traceable, mainly because they are all stored in one place in the BIM model. However, it is important to keep the data in the models up to date to achieve useability of the model throughout the life cycle of the building. It is now becoming standard practice to use BIM models in the construction of buildings, however, the building environment is very often neglected. Especially in large-scale development projects, the public space of buildings is often forwarded to municipalities, which obtains the ownership and are in charge of its maintenance. A 3D model of the building surroundings would include both the above-ground visible elements of the development as well as the underground parts, such as the technological facilities of water features, electricity lines for public lighting, etc. The paper shows the possibilities of a model in the field of information for the handover of premises, the following maintenance and decision making. The attributes and spatial representation of the individual elements make the model a reliable foundation for the creation of "Smart Cities". The paper analyses the current use of the BIM methodology and presents the state-of-the-art possibilities of development.

Keywords: BIM model, urban space, BIM methodology, facility management

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Authors: Rachid Ziteuni, Selt Omar

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In this paper, we propose a new polynomial metaheuristic elaboration (tabu search) for solving scheduling problems. This method allows us to solve the scheduling problem of n tasks on m identical parallel machines with unavailability periods. This problem is NP-complete in the strong sens and finding an optimal solution appears unlikely. Note that all data in this problem are integer and deterministic. The performance criterion to optimize in this problem which we denote Pm/N-c/summs of (wjCj) is the weighted sum of the end dates of tasks.

Keywords: scheduling, parallel identical machines, unavailability periods, metaheuristic, tabu search

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Authors: Omojokun Gabriel Aju

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Communication network is a process of exchanging data between two or more devices via some forms of transmission medium using communication protocols. The data could be in form of text, images, audio, video or numbers which can be grouped into FTP, Email, HTTP, VOIP or Video applications. The effectiveness of such data exchange will be proved if they are accurately delivered within specified time. While some senders will not really mind when the data is actually received by the receiving device, inasmuch as it is acknowledged to have been received by the receiver. The time a data takes to get to a receiver could be very important to another sender, as any delay could cause serious problem or even in some cases rendered the data useless. The validity or invalidity of a data after delay will therefore definitely depend on the type of data (information). It is therefore imperative for the network device (such as router) to be able to differentiate among the packets which are time sensitive and those that are not, when they are passing through the same network. So, here is where the queuing disciplines comes to play, to handle network resources when such network is designed to service widely varying types of traffics and manage the available resources according to the configured policies. Therefore, as part of the resources allocation mechanisms, a router within the network must implement some queuing discipline that governs how packets (data) are buffered while waiting to be transmitted. The implementation of the queuing discipline will regulate how the packets are buffered while waiting to be transmitted. In achieving this, various queuing disciplines are being used to control the transmission of these packets, by determining which of the packets get the highest priority, less priority and which packets are dropped. The queuing discipline will therefore control the packets latency by determining how long a packet can wait to be transmitted or dropped. The common queuing disciplines are first-in-first-out queuing, Priority queuing and Weighted-fair queuing (FIFO, PQ and WFQ). This paper critically evaluates and analyse through the use of Optimized Network Evaluation Tool (OPNET) Modeller, Version 14.5 the effects of three queuing disciplines (FIFO, PQ and WFQ) on the performance of 5 different applications (FTP, HTTP, E-Mail, Voice and Video) within specified parameters using packets sent, packets received and transmission delay as performance metrics. The paper finally suggests some ways in which networks can be designed to provide better transmission performance while using these queuing disciplines.

Keywords: applications, first-in-first-out queuing (FIFO), optimised network evaluation tool (OPNET), packets, priority queuing (PQ), queuing discipline, weighted-fair queuing (WFQ)

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Authors: Anu Krishna

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Cardamom Hills geographically falls into the Western Ghat region in the state of Kerala (India). The fame of these hills dates back to antiquity as the abode of various indigenous communities and treasure house of spices like cardamom. With the colonial conquest over the region, the evergreen forests got converted into zones of mono-cropping with commercial crops such as coffee, tea, cardamom etc. on plantation basis; a process which has been further accentuated with the migration of settlers during the post-independent times. Curiously, when Cardamom Hills are better known today as the plantation belt of the country or as one of the most fostering grounds of agrarian capitalism producing the lion share of Indian cardamom, the indigenous communities of the place such as the Mannans got alienated of their ancestral lands, became inter-generational proletariats and got reduced into ‘segmented spaces’ called the settlements. While dispossession of land for plantations has dislocated the economic life of the Mannans, the migration of the settlers has resulted into a complete social, cultural, political and demographic dominion over them. This has not only relegated their existential relations, history, culture and association with the place but also condensed them as the ‘Other’ in their own territories. Therefore inquisitively, violation of rights of the communities like Mannans, encroachment of their lands, negation towards their very existence and distortion of their history gets defined as the ‘Manifest Destiny’ of the people and place whereby its inevitability gets manufactured. This paper is an attempt to elicit the ways in which the formation of Mannan settlements are interconnected to the historical reality and contemporary opulence of the plantation industry in the place. The arguments put forth by this study is based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in various Mannan settlements in the cardamom hills. The study basically dwells on to the methodological premises of multi-sited ethnography wherein information was gathered from different sites such as settlements, plantations and other interactive spaces wherein the Mannans from the settlements engages in socio-economic, cultural and political relations. Such an attempt was made to understand in depth the associations and interactions that people in the settlements have among themselves and others. The study equally uses the method of oral history to understand the alternative history, the socio-cultural and economic life of the people before the importation of plantations to the place. The paper gauges into the ways in which settlements imprisons generations of Mannans into plantation work and acts as moulds for subservient, hardworking plantation labourers.

Keywords: Cardamom Hills, plantations, labourers, Mannans, segmented spaces, settlements

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Authors: Karin Schoenpflug, Christine M. Klapeer

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In a large study for the Vienna City Council’s Antidiscrimination unit (WASt) an interdisciplinary team (in the fields of economics, sociology and political science) working with urban economics, critical citizenship studies, the sociology of work & inequality and urban political/human geography conducted an online survey asking LGBTIs (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex people) in Vienna detailed questions on their quality-of-life, happiness and well-being. 3.161 persons responded and provided us with a rich data set concerning: 1) Labor market structures, discrimination, working conditions and employment practices (economic citizenship); 2) access to health care, welfare, education and safety in public spaces (social citizenship); 3) political participation as well as access to legal institutions (political citizenship). All those fields are important dimensions in regards to “full” citizenship and the well-being of the LGBTI population, but are also constitutive for the inclusion of sexual and gender minorities into the city population(s) of Vienna. Our data also allows us to map the sexual geography of Vienna as LGBTI communities are more likely to live in certain districts; some places are considered safe(r) and “friendlier”. In this way our work helps to fill a research gap connecting (urban) spaces and sexuality, and it produces new data and insights on the quality-of-life of this subpopulation. Our findings allow for urban (policy) planning and limiting violence and discrimination and improving the collective wellbeing and social cohesion.

Keywords: urban sexual geographies, LGBTI, socio-economic status, Vienna, sitizenship status

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Authors: Lina Wu, Ye Li, Jia Liu

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We are interested in solving Liouville-type problems to explore constancy properties for maps or differential forms on Riemannian manifolds. Geometric structures on manifolds, the existence of constancy properties for maps or differential forms, and energy growth for maps or differential forms are intertwined. In this article, we concentrate on discovery of solutions to Liouville-type problems where manifolds are Euclidean spaces (i.e. flat Riemannian manifolds) and maps become real-valued functions. Liouville-type results of vanishing properties for functions are obtained. The original work in our research findings is to extend the q-energy for a function from finite in L^q space to infinite in non-L^q space by applying p-balanced technique where q = p = 2. Calculation skills such as Hölder's Inequality and Tests for Series have been used to evaluate limits and integrations for function energy. Calculation ideas and computational techniques for solving Liouville-type problems shown in this article, which are utilized in Euclidean spaces, can be universalized as a successful algorithm, which works for both maps and differential forms on Riemannian manifolds. This innovative algorithm has a far-reaching impact on research work of solving Liouville-type problems in the general settings involved with infinite energy. The p-balanced technique in this algorithm provides a clue to success on the road of q-energy extension from finite to infinite.

Keywords: differential forms, holder inequality, Liouville-type problems, p-balanced growth, p-harmonic maps, q-energy growth, tests for series

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Authors: Sepideh Samadzadehyazdi, Mohammad Javad Khalili, Sarvenaz Samadzadehyazdi, Mohammad Javad Mahdavinejad

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The term ‘Windphil Architecture’ refers to the building that facilitates natural ventilation by architectural elements. Natural ventilation uses the natural forces of wind pressure and stacks effect to direct the movement of air through buildings. Natural ventilation is increasingly being used in contemporary buildings to minimize the consumption of non-renewable energy and it is an effective way to improve indoor air quality. The main objective of this paper is to identify the strategies of using natural ventilation in Iranian modern buildings. In this regard, the research method is ‘descriptive-analytical’ that is based on comparative techniques. To simulate wind flow in the interior spaces of case studies, FLUENT software has been used. Research achievements show that it is possible to use natural ventilation to create a thermally comfortable indoor environment. The natural ventilation strategies could be classified into two groups of environmental characteristics such as public space structure, and architectural characteristics including building form and orientation, openings, central courtyards, wind catchers, roof, wall wings, semi-open spaces and the heat capacity of materials. Having investigated modern buildings of Iran, innovative elements like wind catchers and wall wings are less used than the traditional architecture. Instead, passive ventilation strategies have been more considered in the building design as for the roof structure and openings.

Keywords: natural ventilation strategies, wind catchers, wind flow, Iranian modern buildings

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Authors: A. Abdullah, N. Faghih Mirzaei, S. Hany Haron

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Neighbourhood environment walkability on reported physical activity (PA) levels of students of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Malaysia. Compared with previous generations, today’s young people spend less time playing outdoors and have lower participation rates in PA. Research suggests that negative perceptions of neighbourhood walkability may be a potential barrier to adolescents’ PA. The sample consisted of 200 USM students (to 24 years old) who live outside of the main campus and engage in PA in sport halls and sport fields of USM. The data were analysed using the t-test, binary logistic regression, and discriminant analysis techniques. The present study found that youth PA was affected by neighbourhood environment walkability factors, including neighbourhood infrastructures, neighbourhood safety (crime), and recreation facilities, as well as street characteristics and neighbourhood design variables such as facades of sidewalks, roadside trees, green spaces, and aesthetics. The finding also illustrated that active students were influenced by street connectivity, neighbourhood infrastructures, recreation facilities, facades of sidewalks, and aesthetics, whereas students in the less active group were affected by access to destinations, neighbourhood safety (crime), and roadside trees and green spaces for their PAs. These results report which factors of built environments have more effect on youth PA and they message to the public to create more awareness about the benefits of PA on youth health.

Keywords: fear of crime, neighbourhood built environment, physical activities, street characteristics design

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Authors: Joy Chadwick

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There is no doubt that classrooms of today are more complex and diverse than ever before. Preparing teacher candidates to meet these challenges is essential to ensure the retention of teachers within the profession and to ensure that graduates begin their teaching careers with the knowledge and understanding of how to effectively meet the diversity of students they will encounter. Creating inclusive classrooms requires teachers to have a repertoire of effective instructional skills and strategies. Teachers must also have the mindset to embrace diversity and value the uniqueness of individual students in their care. This qualitative study analyzed teacher candidates' experiences as they completed a fourteen-week teaching practicum while simultaneously completing a university course focused on inclusive pedagogy. The research investigated the challenges and successes teacher candidates had in navigating the translation of theory related to inclusive pedagogy into their teaching practice. Applying threshold concept theory as a framework, the research explored the troublesome concepts, liminal spaces, and transformative experiences as connected to inclusive practices. Threshold concept theory suggests that within all disciplinary fields, there exists particular threshold concepts that serve as gateways or portals into previously inaccessible ways of thinking and practicing. It is in these liminal spaces that conceptual shifts in thinking and understanding and deep learning can occur. The threshold concept framework provided a lens to examine teacher candidate struggles and successes with the inclusive education course content and the application of this content to their practicum experiences. A qualitative research approach was used, which included analyzing twenty-nine course reflective journals and six follow up one-to-one semi structured interviews. The journals and interview transcripts were coded and themed using NVivo software. Threshold concept theory was then applied to the data to uncover the liminal or stuck spaces of learning and the ways in which the teacher candidates navigated those challenging places of teaching. The research also sought to uncover potential transformative shifts in teacher candidate understanding as connected to teaching in an inclusive classroom. The findings suggested that teacher candidates experienced difficulties when they did not feel they had the knowledge, skill, or time to meet the needs of the students in the way they envisioned they should. To navigate the frustration of this thwarted vision, they relied on present and previous course content and experiences, collaborative work with other teacher candidates and their mentor teachers, and a proactive approach to planning for students. Transformational shifts were most evident in their ability to reframe their perceptions of children from a deficit or disability lens to a strength-based belief in the potential of students. It was evident that through their course work and practicum experiences, their beliefs regarding struggling students shifted as they saw the value of embracing neurodiversity, the importance of relationships, and planning for and teaching through a strength-based approach. Research findings have implications for teacher education programs and for understanding threshold concepts theory as connected to practice-based learning experiences.

Keywords: inclusion, inclusive education, liminal space, teacher education, threshold concepts, troublesome knowledge

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Authors: Samaneh Arasteh

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Neighbourhood satisfaction and safety are the two main components of urban life and have a substantial impact on residents’ quality of life. The relationship between these two components, especially in areas surrounding our individual private dwellings, is highly influential on many social, economic, and wellbeing activities that may benefit neighbourhood residents. Neighbourhood and urban design – which are liable to be affected by the perceived quality of local public spaces – are likely to be significant factors influencing broader residents’ feelings of safety. With this in mind, this study reviews recent normative literature on how these design processes have influenced neighbourhood satisfaction including perceived safety with a focus on different aspects of public spaces including planning, management, and design in a mix-tenure neighbourhood. Following the study aim, Riverwood in Sydney’s southwest was chosen as a case study to gain a detailed understanding of the context by engaging with community members, residents, non-government organisations, and experts. Moreover, archival studies on neighbourhood satisfaction and safety, expert interviews, and resident questionnaires are presented to shed light on the relationship between neighbourhood satisfaction and perception of safety. The study argues that for the safer neighbourhood in urban areas, social-cultural factors need to be aligned toward strengthening physical factors and since making the environments safer, it is important to understand practical and achievable mechanisms which are required to improve existing estates. Findings show that increasing the clarity of community social and physical environmental involvements can promote residents’ feelings of safety and following neighbourhood satisfaction.

Keywords: neighbourhood satisfaction, public space, Riverwood, urban safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 181