The GL-l.u.st.\ constant and asymmetry of the Kalton-Peck twisted sum in finite dimensions

We prove that the Kalton-Peck twisted sum $Z_2^n$ of $n$-dimensional Hilbert spaces has GL-l.u.st.\ constant of order $\log n$ and bounded GL constant. This is the first concrete example which shows different explicit orders of growth in the GL and GL-l.u.st.\ constants. We discuss also the asymmetry constants of $Z_2^n$

The troubled relationship between architecture and aesthetic: exploring the self and emotional beauty in design

As its title informs us, this research has a double agenda: investigating the troubled relationship between architecture and its generated aesthetic since the early 1940s when the Self was repressed - the Eye and the ‘I’ - as well as exploring, through my test-bed project, a design process where feelings and emotions are an integral part. My research is an investigation into what seems to be a great paradox within architectural discourse. While good architecture or brilliant buildings tend to be judged by their capacity to produce an aesthetic experience, many architects claim they generate architecture in response to rational utilitarian issues, often insisting on removing themselves as personalities from the design process. This down-plays the direct relationship between personal judgement and visual discrimination, a position which has broader cultural implications. After a short decade (1977-88) of free imagination, lateral thinking and celebrating the Self, from the late 1980s the intellectualisation and further rationalisation of the architectural design process came again to the fore and became an authorial voice substituting the Self by introducing either philosophy, math or both to the design process. Investigating this troubled relationship took place alongside exploring the creation of an emotional environment within the architectural context; ways in which space becomes emotionally charged. G. Bachelard’s exposition of issues contained within poetry teaches us that like poetry, visual poetic images might release people into reverie, the state of mind in which the eidetic memory is accessed. The wonder and beauty of nature is a constant reminder of wonderful possibilities - with great relevance to architecture. My intention is not to depict or describe nature, but to evoke human emotions (as nature does) through the architectural spaces that I design. Using and evoking poetic images in the design process forming the preludes to emotive architecture. Spatial-Depth or Depth–Scape were two equivalent terms I coined for a new architectural spatial pursuit; it is the spatial-depth quality and effect that I explored which I believe is the aspect of my research that is a contribution to the field of architectural design. A new spatial concept and a new architectural language that substitutes the ubiquitous and already old Modern planar architecture. Opposed to the prevalent topological surface, with continuous and consistent skins, an exuberant ‘inside-out’, complex three dimensionally with an enhanced depth to be inhabited or involved with at close distance. A new spatial quality engulfed with emotional triggers such as the manifold silhouettes in the interactive time-cycled Light and Acoustic Installation - an emotional beauty. For architecture, aesthetics has the power to synthesise poetic and emotional values and at the same time give coherence to the design itself

Assessment of the environmental and economic performance of agroforestry along a European gradient

Poste

Gallstone ileus following endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and sphincterotomy: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Gallstone ileus is a mechanical obstruction caused by the impaction of one or more gallstones within the lumen of any part of the gastrointestinal tract. Although the disorder is a rare cause of small bowel obstruction (1% to 2%), it has been reported to cause up to 25% of cases of non-strangulated small bowel obstruction in patients over 65 years of age.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a 67-year-old woman who presented with gallstone ileus following endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and sphincterotomy for choledocholithiasis. She had a history of terminal ileum resection with ileocolic anastomosis for Crohn's disease. A 3 cm gallstone was found to be impacted just proximal to the previous ileocolic anastomosis. A second gallstone was found on digital examination of the proximal small bowel.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A gallstone may enter the gastrointestinal tract following endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and sphincterotomy and impact proximal to an anastomotic stricture as demonstrated here. The radiographic image of small bowel obstruction plus air in the biliary tree is a classic diagnostic finding. After stone extraction, the entire small bowel and colon should be digitally examined for further stones.</p

Harmonically confined, semiflexible polymer in a channel: response to a stretching force and spatial distribution of the endpoints

We consider an inextensible, semiflexible polymer or worm-like chain which is confined in the transverse direction by a parabolic potential and subject to a longitudinal force at the ends, so that the polymer is stretched out and backfolding is negligible. Simple analytic expressions for the partition function, valid in this regime, are obtained for chains of arbitrary length with a variety of boundary conditions at the ends. The spatial distribution of the end points or radial distribution function is also analyzed.Comment: 14 pages including figure

Solar reforming of biomass with homogeneous carbon dots

A sunlight-powered process is reported that employs carbon dots (CDs) as light absorber for the conversion of lignocellulose into sustainable H2 fuel and organics. This photocatalytic system operates in pure and untreated sea water using a benign pH (2-8) at ambient temperature and pressure. The CDs can be produced in a scalable synthesis directly from biomass itself and their solubility allows for good interactions with the insoluble biomass substrates. They also display excellent photophysical properties with a high fraction of long-lived charge carriers and the availability of a reductive and an oxidative quenching pathway. The presented CD-based biomass photoconversion system opens new avenues for sustainable, practical, and renewable fuel production through biomass valorization

Statics and dynamics of single DNA molecules confined in nanochannels

The successful design of nanofluidic devices for the manipulation of biopolymers requires an understanding of how the predictions of soft condensed matter physics scale with device dimensions. Here we present measurements of DNA extended in nanochannels and show that below a critical width roughly twice the persistence length there is a crossover in the polymer physics

Amplified stretch of bottlebrush-coated DNA in nanofluidic channels

The effect of a cationic-neutral diblock polypeptide on the conformation of single DNA molecules confined in rectangular nanochannels is investigated with fluorescence microscopy. An enhanced stretch along the channel is observed with increased binding of the cationic block of the polypeptide to DNA. A maximum stretch of 85% of the contour length can be achieved inside a channel with a cross-sectional diameter of 200 nm and at a 2-fold excess of polypeptide with respect to DNA charge. With site-specific fluorescence labelling, it is demonstrated that this maximum stretch is sufficient to map large-scale genomic organization. Monte Carlo computer simulation shows that the amplification of the stretch inside the nanochannels is owing to an increase in bending rigidity and thickness of bottlebrush-coated DNA. The persistence lengths and widths deduced from the nanochannel data agree with what has been estimated from the analysis of atomic force microscopy images of dried complexes on silica.Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and TechnologyNational Science Foundation (U.S.