Empathic Imagination: Formal and Experiential Projection

The celebrated architect, educator and author Juhani Pallasmaa is well-known for having forged a new understanding of perception and the experiential in architecture with his seminal book The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Sensory (3rd edn, Wiley, 2012). Here he describes how ‘imagining human situations’ is at the core of architecture, relying on the interrelationship of physical space, behaviour and the capacity for mental tuning.     

Optimization of nuclear reactor strategies under uncertainty

Operations research is applied to analysing uncertainties in the selection of nuclear reactor types. Dynamic programming methods have been extended to account for uncertain decision factors by including in the objective function a variance-related uncertainty factor as well as expected cost values. A technique is also described for obtaining total cost probability distributions. A case study is presented which uses the method to analyze a long-term planning problem for a given electric utility system. This problem is also solved by using fuzzy programming methods.     

Atomic layer deposition of HfO2 thin films and nanolayered HfO2–Al2O3–Nb2O5 dielectrics

Smooth, 4–6-nm thick hafnium oxide films were grown by atomic layer deposition from HfI₄ or HfCl₄ and H₂O on SiO₂/Si(1 0 0) substrates at 300 °C. Non-uniform films were obtained on hydrogen-terminated Si(1 0 0). The stoichiometry of the films corresponded to that of HfO₂. The films contained small amounts of residual chlorine and iodine. The films deposited on SiO₂/Si(1 0 0) were amorphous, but crystallized upon annealing at 1000 °C. In order to decrease the conductivity, the HfO₂ films were mixed with Al₂O₃, and to increase the capacitance, the films were mixed with Nb₂O₅. The capacitance–voltage curves of the Hf–Al–O mixture films showed hysteresis. The capacitance–voltage curves of HfO₂ films and mixtures of Hf–Al–Nb–O were hysteresis free.     

Butylated hydroxytoluene exposure is necessary to induce lung tumors in BALB mice treated with 3-methylcholanthrene

Chronic butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) treatment after a single administration of a carcinogen increases lung tumor multiplicity in some inbred strains of mice. We report that BALB/cOla and BALB/cByJ mice given a low dose (10 microg/g of body weight) of 3-methylcholanthrene (MCA) develop no lung tumors unless this is followed by chronic BHT exposure. Slightly higher MCA doses (15 and 25 microg/g) induce low lung tumor multiplicities (0.6 and 1.9 tumors/mouse, respectively) that are increased 12-26-fold by chronic BHT administration. This low-dose MCA/BHT model in BALB mice will facilitate the identification of genes regulating susceptibility to lung tumor promotion and pulmonary chemopreventative agents that act at a postinitiation site.     

A Model for Chlorine Dioxide Delignification of Chemical Pulp

Abstract

A phenomenon based model for chlorine dioxide delignification of chemical pulp is introduced. The pulp suspension environment is modeled using the concept of two liquid phases, one inside and the other external to the fiber wall. Physico-chemical processes taking place during delignification are implemented with thermodynamic, mass transfer and reaction kinetic models. A broad library of chemical reactions is introduced. Inclusion of each reaction is justified. The model response is tested against experimental laboratory delignification results (o-delignified birch pulp). The experimental data consists of kappa number, hexenuronic acid, inorganic oxy-chlorine compound, and organochlorine (AOX, OX) measurements at several time points during five delignification experiments. The model predictions are mainly in good agreement with the experimental results. The predictions regarding hypochlorous acid driven processes (HexA removal, organochlorine formation, chlorite and chlorate concentration) are somewhat incoherent, indicating that knowledge regarding the intermediately formed hypochlorous acid is presently insufficient.     

Epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor-alpha, and epidermal growth factor receptor in labial salivary glands in Sj?gren's syndrome

OBJECTIVE: Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) affect cells through binding to a shared EGF receptor (EGF-R), which is a transmembrane protein with tyrosine kinase activity. They exert trophic effects on vascular endothelial, salivary acinar, and ductal and mucosal epithelial cells. In Sj?gren's syndrome (SS) focal sialadenitis leads to salivary gland tissue damage, diminished salivary flow, and changes in the oral epithelium, a complex referred to as xerostomia. We compared the localization of EGF, TGF-alpha, and EGF-R in labial salivary glands in SS and in healthy controls. METHODS: Labial salivary gland tissues of 12 patients with SS and 7 healthy controls were stained with the immunohistochemical peroxidase-antiperoxidase method for EGF, TGF-alpha, and EGF-R. RESULTS: Immunoreactivity for both EGF and TGF-alpha was found in endothelial cells of blood vessels and in some ductal epithelial cells. TGF-alpha, but not EGF, was also found in some acinar cells. EGF-R was found in endothelial, acinar, and salivary duct epithelial cells. There was no difference in the expression of EGF-R between diseased and healthy specimens, but both EGF and TGF-alpha were diminished in SS. CONCLUSION: The interrelated localization of EGF-R and its ligands, EGF and TGF-alpha, suggests an autocrine, juxtacrine, and paracrine mitogenic/trophic role for them and thus a role in the maintenance of the secretory and excretory cells of the normal salivary glands. The trophic effects on acinar cells seem not to be mediated by EGF, but more likely by TGF-alpha. The diminished expression of EGF and TGF-alpha indicates a failure of this trophic system in SS, which may contribute to the acinar atrophy and secondary changes thereof, including atrophy of the oral mucosa.     

建筑的工艺

当我几个月前走进奥布兰位于纽约教堂街315号的工作室时,我一下子就被这里工匠作坊般的氛围打动了.用各种材料制作的无数工作模型,从和火柴盒一样小的到巨大的结构、室内和细部研究模型.这些模型立刻说明了他们认真的、实体的、亲密的方法,与当今建筑事务所普遍的诊所般的气氛——更像是律师事务所,而不是一个有人和生活参与的工作场所——大相径庭.奥布兰建筑设计事务所反映了个人的奉献,和对建筑艺术的实质的深厚兴趣,而不是仅仅将设计视为一种职业服务.和奥布兰的建筑师聊天,阅读他们的文字让我理解到对于他们来说建筑创作是一种个人自省的方式,一种培养他们自己个性和世界观的方法.正如路德维希·维特根斯坦所述:"建筑和哲学相似,他们都是人们用来影响自己的方式,针对看待事物的方式."     

Unique Decipherability in the Monoid of Languages: An Application of Rational Relations

We attack the problem of deciding whether a finite collection of finite languages is a code, that is, possesses the unique decipherability property in the monoid of finite languages. We investigate a few subcases where the theory of rational relations can be employed to solve the problem. The case of unary languages is one of them and as a consequence, we show how to decide for two given finite subsets of nonnegative integers, whether they are the nth root of a common set, for some n≥1. We also show that it is decidable whether a finite collection of finite languages is a Parikh code, in the sense that whenever two products of these sets are commutatively equivalent, so are the sequences defining these products. Finally, we consider a nonunary special case where all finite sets consist of words containing exactly one occurrence of the specific letter.     

Multicriterion optimization of composite laminates for maximum failure margins with an interactive descent algorithm

An interactive multicriterion optimization method for composite laminates subjected to multiple loading conditions is introduced. Laminate margins to initial failure (First Ply Failure, FPF) with respect of the applied loading conditions are treated as criteria. The original problem is reduced to a bicriterion problem by introducing parameters to combine linearly some criteria. The problem is solved by using an interactive descent algorithm. Both the conditions required for a discrete procedure to converge towards a Pareto optimum and numerical examples are given.