Random Exploration of the Procedural Space for Single-View 3D Modeling of Buildings

In this paper we tackle the problem of 3D modeling for urban environment using a modular, flexible and powerful approach driven from procedural generation. To this end, typologies of architectures are modeled through shape grammars that consist of a set of derivation rules and a set of shape/dictionary elements. Appearance (from statistical point of view with respect to the individual pixel’s properties) of the dictionary elements is then learned using a set of training images. Image classifiers are trained towards recovering image support with respect to the semantics. Then, given a new image and the corresponding footprint, the modeling problem is formulated as a search of the space of shapes, that can be generated on-the-fly by deriving the grammar on the input axiom. Defining an image-based score function for the produced instances using the trained classifiers, the best rules are selected, making sure that we keep exploring the space by allowing some rules to be randomly selected. New rules are then generated by resampling around the selected rules. At the finest level, these rules define the 3D model of the building. Promising results on complex and varying architectural styles demonstrate the potential of the presented method.     

Disaster risk reduction and emergency management in prison: A scoping study from New Zealand

This research note provides insights on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and emergency management in New Zealand prisons. It draws upon a scoping study that explores the exposure of prisons and identifies vulnerabilities and capacities of prisoners. This study also documents policies and practices for DRR and emergency management. It reveals that increasing awareness at the national level and improved DRR policies and emergency management initiatives may still prove insufficient to deal with increasing exposure and the particular vulnerability of a quickly growing number of inmates. The intrinsic capacities of these inmates also remain untapped. This research note further highlights the critical lack of collaboration between stakeholders of prison management, DRR and emergency management in New Zealand.     

Safer and Performing Energetic Materials Based on Polyaniline-Doped Nanocomposites

Nanothermites, combining a fuel with an oxidizer at the nanoscale, represent a class of energetic material that has been attracting increasing attention over the past decade. This intensive interest is due to their tuneable pyrotechnic performance, making the materials promising candidates for ordnance applications. However, the extreme mechanical and electrostatic sensitivities of energetic composites make handling them hazardous. In this study, a realistic desensitization method is suggested via the addition of polyaniline while maintaining an interesting combustion velocity in contrast to the literature values. This investigation claims a major scientific breakthrough in the preparation of safer energetic nanocomposites.     

Kinetics of the reaction between carbon dioxide and hydrogen over a ruthenium catalyst in a continuous stirred tank reactor

The catalytic reaction between carbon dioxide and hydrogen over a surface coated ruthenium catalyst was investigated in a stirred tank reactor, under isothermal conditions from 200 to 300°C. The kinetic data obtained were analysed by the Hougen-Watson method. Non-linear least squares analysis was used to discriminate among 28 rate models. The following Hougen-Watson type rate equation was selected.     

Speciation and Electronic Structure of La<Subscript>1−x</Subscript>Sr<Subscript>x</Subscript>CoO<Subscript>3−δ</Subscript> During Oxygen Electrolysis

Cobalt-containing perovskite oxides are promising electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline electrolyzers. However, a lack of fundamental understanding of oxide surfaces impedes rational catalyst design for improved activity and stability. We couple electrochemical studies of epitaxial La_1?xSr_xCoO_3?δ films with in situ and operando ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to investigate the surface stoichiometry, adsorbates, and electronic structure. In situ investigations spanning electrode compositions in a humid environment indicate that hydroxyl and carbonate affinity increase with Sr content, leading to an increase in binding energy of metal core levels and the valence band edge from the formation of a surface dipole. The maximum in hydroxylation at 40% Sr is commensurate with the highest OER activity, where activity scales with greater hole carrier concentration and mobility. Operando measurements of the 20% Sr-doped oxide in alkaline electrolyte indicate that the surface stoichiometry remains constant during OER, supporting the idea that the oxide electrocatalyst is stable and behaves as a metal, with the voltage drop confined to the electrolyte. Furthermore, hydroxyl and carbonate species are present on the electrode surface even under oxidizing conditions, and may impact the availability of active sites or the binding strength of adsorbed intermediates via adsorbate–adsorbate interactions. For covalent oxides with facile charge transfer kinetics, the accumulation of hydroxyl species with oxidative potentials suggests the rate of reaction could be limited by proton transfer kinetics. This operando insight will help guide modeling of self-consistent oxide electrocatalysts, and highlights the potential importance of carbonates in oxygen electrocatalysis.     

A Tale of Two Metaphors: Storylines About Mathematics Education in Canadian National Media

Public perception about mathematics education is developed and sustained by the Canadian news media. Our goal is to understand better the nature of this public discourse by identifying what is being communicated and how it is presented. We examine a data corpus of 71 online national newspaper articles (published between 2013 and 2015, a period that included the release of the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA] results) and use text-analytic tools to analyze how meaning is conveyed in them. Drawing on the social psychological theory of positioning, which focuses on a general study of the manufacturing and management of meanings, we identify storylines, positions, and communication acts that are at play in how Canadian mathematics education is depicted. The data reveal that there are two connected core metaphors in relation to mathematics education. One posits mathematics education as being at war, whereas the second suggests that the war is over territory marked by two ways of teaching school mathematics. Along with the strategic positioning of certain individuals, we identify storylines that are problematic, conveying fictitious meanings about mathematics teaching and learning.     

Formal verification of synchronous data-flow program transformations toward certified compilers

Translation validation was invented in the 90＇s by Pnueli et al. as a technique to formally verify the correctness of code generators. Rather than certifying the code generator or exhaustively qualifying it, translation validators attempt to verify that program transformations preserve semantics. In this work, we adopt this approach to formally verify that the clock semantics and data dependence are preserved during the compilation of the Signal compiler. Translation valida- tion is implemented for every compilation phase from the initial phase until the latest phase where the executable code is generated, by proving the transformation in each phase of the compiler preserves the semantics. We represent the clock semantics, the data dependence of a program and its trans- formed counterpart as first-order formulas which are called clock models and synchronous dependence graphs （SDGs）, respectively. We then introduce clock refinement and depen- dence refinement relations which express the preservations of clock semantics and dependence, as a relation on clock mod- els and SDGs, respectively. Our validator does not require any instrumentation or modification of the compiler, nor any rewriting of the source program.