Space and the Social Order

After briefly outlining several examples from recent historical research which begin to establish the relativity of design processes during several different epochs, this paper suggests that a new synthetic approach to the study of architectural representation and its influence on thought is needed to bridge the gap between architectural history, intellectual history and design methodology. Such an approach would be based upon the concept of studying relationships between representation, conception, and perception, or more simply, between modes of conception as they appear historically, and the particular forms of representation used by designers. Drawing, when studied as a language of thought rather than simply a medium of expression, may yield clues to the intellectual history of architecture which have gone unnoticed under standard techniques of historical inquiry.     

配电系统中可再生能源机组接入容量分析

配电系统中安装可再生能源机组的容量会受到传统系统潮流分析方法的限制。介绍了一种用于分析系统潮流概率分布的概率潮流分析方法 ,并使用这一方法对配电系统中安装可再生能源机组容量问题进行了分析。通过实例计算分析 ,说明通过概率方法可以得到对配电系统安装可再生能源机组后系统运行情况的更完整的结果 ,从而提高配电系统中允许安装的可再生能源机组容量。     

银行业务转型的六大策略

以往，银行只需专注于主要业务中的一两个方面，包括管理风险、满足法规要求、提高效率、增加盈利、实施发展战略和预测客户行为等，以保持领先竞争优势等。如今，成功的银行更多的是需要同时、持续地关注上述所有领域。     

A high-resolution domestic building occupancy model for energy demand simulations

Energy use in the home is a major source of carbon emissions and is highly dependent on the activities of the residents. More specifically, the timing of energy use, particularly electricity, is highly dependent on the timing of the occupants’ activities. Thus, in order to model domestic demand profiles with high temporal resolution, for example, in the context of designing and assessing demand side management systems (including the time-shifting of demand), it is of great benefit to take account of residents’ behaviour in terms of when they are likely to be using household appliances, lighting and heating. This paper presents a thorough and detailed method for generating realistic occupancy data for UK households, based upon surveyed time-use data describing what people do and when. The approach presented generates statistical occupancy time-series data at a ten-minute resolution and takes account of differences between weekdays and weekends. The model also indicates the number of occupants that are active within a house at a given time, which is important for example in order to model the sharing of energy use (shared use of appliances, etc.) The data from the model can be used as input to any domestic energy model that uses occupancy time-series as a base variable, or any other application that requires detailed occupancy data. The model has been implemented in Excel and is available for free download.     

Reduction in diet breadth results in sequestration of plant chemicals and increases efficacy of chemical defense in a generalist grasshopper

The lubber grasshopper,Romalea guttata, is a generalist feeding on a broad diet of many herbaceous plant species and has a metathoracic defensive secretion normally containing phenolics and quinones synthesized by the insect. When insects were reared on a restricted diet of wild onion, they sequestered sulfur volatiles from the plant into their defensive secretions. These compounds were not detected by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy in secretions of insects on an artificial diet or a natural, generalist diet of 26 plants that included wild onion as a component, nor were they present in secretions from field-collected insects. Defensive secretions of insects reared on wild onion were significantly more deterrent, by as much as an order of magnitude, to two species of ant predators than secretions from insects on either of the other two diets, despite a reduction in the concentration of autogenous defensive chemicals in secretions of insects on the onion diet. Sequestration of plant chemicals that increased defensive efficacy occurred when diet breadth was reduced. We suggest that this occurs because under conditions of specialization, plant secondary metabolites are more likely to be ingested and bioaccumulated in sufficient concentrations to have biological activity against predators. What we define as casual bioaccumulation of bioactive plant chemicals following dietary specialization may lead to evolution of sequestered defense syndromes in insects, and this process may not necessarily require specific adaptation to or coevolution with a toxic host plant.     

Evidence that ceramide selectively inhibits protein kinase C-alpha translocation and modulates bradykinin activation of phospholipase D

Sphingomyelinase (SMase) treatment (0.1 unit/ml for up to 30 min) of mouse epidermal (HEL-37) or human skin fibroblast (SF 3155) cells preincubated with [3H]serine to label the sphingomyelin pool caused the accumulation of labeled ceramide but not sphingosine or ceramide 1-phosphate. Incubation of HEL-37 cells with dioctanoylglycerol (diC8) or SF 3155 cells with bradykinin caused translocation of calcium/phosphatidylserine-dependent protein kinase C (PKC) activity to particulate material. In both cell lines the translocation was blocked by SMase treatment of the cells or by incubation with the cell-permeable ceramide analogue N-acetylsphingosine (C2-Cer). Western blot analysis indicated that treatment of HEL-37 cells with diC8 or SF 3155 cells with bradykinin resulted in the translocation of both PKC-alpha and PKC-espilon to particulate material. Treatment with SMase or C2-Cer specifically blocked the translocation of PKC-alpha but not that of PKC-epsilon. Pretreatment of cells with SMase or C2-Cer also inhibited the activation of phospholipase D activity induced by either diC8 (HEL-37 cells) or bradykinin (SF 3155 cells). The data provide strong evidence that ceramide can negatively regulate the translocation of PKC-alpha but not PKC-epsilon and further suggest that PKC-alpha may be involved in regulating phospholipase D activity.     

A prospective study of primary and secondary risk factor management in stroke patients

Stroke is a common event which often results in death or major loss of independence with immense human and financial costs, so identification of patients at risk, and prevention of stroke at the individual and population levels, is a high clinical and health priority. From August 1993 to July 1994, 468 stroke patients admitted to our hospital were assessed for the presence of stroke risk factors. All patients were followed up in hospital, and on discharge or death all hospital records were reviewed. We show that many risk factors remain uncorrected in stroke patients and that preventive measures are less than ideal at the community and hospital levels alike.     

Effects of lameness on the behaviour of cows during the summer

The welfare implications of lameness in dairy cattle are considerable, and in addition to causing great pain and discomfort to the animals it is detrimental to productivity. This study investigated the differences in behaviour of lame and normal cows during the summer. Their rank of entry and behaviour in the milking parlour were examined. Lame cows entered the parlour later than normal cows (P < 0.01), and were significantly more restless on their feet while being milked (P < 0.01). When cows were at pasture the lame cows lay down for longer (P < 0.01) and grazed for shorter periods than the normal cows (P < 0.01). All cows ruminated for longer periods when lying down than when standing, but the difference was significant only for the lame cows (P < 0.01). In addition, lame cows had significantly lower bite rates than normal cows (P < 0.01). The behavioural differences between lame and normal cows indicated that lameness had serious effects on the welfare and productivity of lame cows.     

Lateral restraint forces in Z-section roof systems using the component stiffness method

The component stiffness method is a method to predict lateral restraint forces in roof systems supported by Z-sections. The method approximates a bay of Z-sections as a single degree of freedom system and uses a stiffness formulation to determine the contribution of the different components in the system to the resistance of lateral movement. The forces generated by the roof system requiring restraint are derived from mechanics.