Salford postgraduate annual research conference (SPARC) 2012 proceedings

These proceedings bring together a selection of papers from the 2012 Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC). They reflect the breadth and diversity of research interests showcased at the conference, at which over 130 researchers from Salford, the North West and other UK universities presented their work. 21 papers are collated here from the humanities, arts, social sciences, health, engineering, environment and life sciences, built environment and business

Resolving the Problem of Intelligent Learning Content in Learning Management Systems

Current e-learning standardization initiatives have put much effort into easing interoperability between systems and the reusability of contents. For this to be possible, one of the most relevant areas is the definition of a run-time environment, which allows Learning Management Systems to launch, track and communicate with learning objects. However, when dealing with intelligent content, these environments show important restrictions. In this article, we study these restrictions, comparing several standardized run-time environments with nonstandardized solutions that aim to overcome these constraints

Architecture and the creation of worlds

This thesis is an enquiry by creative practice into the academic and aesthetic (avant-garde) practice of architecture. It explores the notion of the virtual as pure potentiality following an event, and defines architecture as the site of such potentiality. (Alain Badiou names event as the moment /encounter which initiates a radical break from a given situation /state of affairs. There are four types of event: artistic, political, scientific and amorous).The thesis follows two parallel strands of enquiry. One, into the material production of the architectural object and topological space, this is titled the actual; and the other, an investigation into the philosophical and antagonistic nature of the virtual, this is titled the virtual. The actual deals with the literature review, methodology, context of study and proposal for (the site of) actual engagement with theory, including a design element (House of the Chinese Mantis); while the virtual explores (through a series of five international and interdisciplinary conference papers) the philosophical problems of emergence. The 'context of study' in the actual centres around the move from the fetish of commodities to seduction and concludes with eroticism, while the body of work in the virtual concentrates on the notions of sovereignty, becoming, and concrete subjectivity.Following the technological practices of the avant-garde between hypersurface theory and catalytic formations in architecture, the thesis rejects the claims of virtual space as the digital space of computer -based design, and of emergence as mimetic and /or algorithm based design. It argues that the virtual is the intangible space of creative unfolding following Bergson and Deleuze, but resists the claim in Deleuze that event is a chance occurring. Also, it resists the claim in Baudrillard that seduction and /or enchanted simulation are event and abandons them to focus on the amorous (one of the four events in Badiou). This creates an inflection in the enquiry, moving the thesis towards Plato and the Renaissance, and a contemporary resurrection in architecture, of the tragic, as concrete manifestation of the amorous encounter.The method of inquiry is structured after the nomadic logic of the War Machine in the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari, and of the revolutionary nature of fidelity to the scientific event in Badiou, which argues that new knowledge is created by 'revolutions' and from the anomalies and collaborations which arise as a result of such 'detours'; it is a strategy justified by the science historians Feyerabend, Kuhn and Lakatos.The thesis takes the form of two books (the actual and the virtual), and concludes that the avant-garde practice of architecture, with its infinite potentialities is distinct from the bureaucratic or State apparatus of building, and that the commonplace appropriation of the avant-garde by the State, as seen in the institutional recourse to parametrics, appears unproductive and uncreative with regard to knowledge

Ereignis-Datenbank für meteorologische Extremereignisse – MEDEA (Event Database for Meteorological Extreme Events – MEDEA). Report StartClim.3c, pp. 36

The main task of the Meteorological extreme Event Data information system for the Eastern Alpine region (MEDEA) is the long range storing for the various range of meteorological extreme event data in Austria. Perspectively the possibility for specific analysis shall be given. The state-of-the-art concerning MEDEA can be summarized as follows: - The MORIS data information system developed at the Umweltbundesamt was tested successfully due to its potential for the requirements of MEDEA. The following needs were in the focus: 1. Integration of a wide-range data spectrum (e.g. georeferenced – not georeferenced, “hard“ natural science data – “soft” socio-economic data) 2. flexibility towards new research projects/programmes of the Austrian climate research community (e.g. ClimRisk, possible StartClim-successor, ProVision) 3. integration of uncertainty specifications belonging to the various data - A preliminary object classification has been carried out. - A first evaluation of the anticipated data and their uncertainty has been carried out. - The first StartClim data sets were imported successfully into MEDE

Powertrain Assembly Lines Automatic Configuration Using a Knowledge Based Engineering Approach

Technical knowledge and experience are intangible assets crucial for competitiveness. Knowledge is particularly important when it comes to complex design activities such as the configuration of manufacturing systems. The preliminary design of manufacturing systems relies significantly on experience of designers and engineers, lessons learned and complex sets of rules and is subject to a huge variability of inputs and outputs and involves decisions which must satisfy many competing requirements. This complicated design process is associated with high costs, long lead times and high probability of risks and reworks. It is estimated that around 20% of the designer’s time is dedicated to searching and analyzing past available knowledge, while 40% of the information required for design is identified through personally stored information. At a company level, the design of a new production line does not start from scratch. Based on the basic requirements of the customers, engineers use their own knowledge and try to recall past layout ideas searching for production line designs stored locally in their CAD systems [1]. A lot of knowledge is already stored, and has been used for a long time and evolved over time. There is a need to retrieve this knowledge and integrate it into a common and reachable framework. Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) and knowledge representation techniques are considered to be a successful way to tackle this design problem at an industrial level. KBE is, in fact, a research field that studies methodologies and technologies for capturing and re-using product and process engineering knowledge to achieve automation of repetitive design tasks [2]. This study presents a methodology to support the configuration of powertrain assembly lines, reducing design times by introducing a best practice for production systems provider companies. The methodology is developed in a real industrial environment, within Comau S.p.A., introducing the role of a knowledge engineer. The approach includes extraction of existing technical knowledge and implementation in a knowledge-based software framework. The macro system design requirements (e.g. cycle time, production mix, etc.) are taken as input. A user driven procedure guides the designer in the definition of the macro layout-related decisions and in the selection of the equipment to be allocated within the project. The framework is then integrated with other software tools allowing the first phase design of the line including a technical description and a 2D and 3D CAD line layout. The KBE application is developed and tested on a specific powertrain assembly case study. Finally, a first validation among design engineers is presented, comparing traditional and new approach and estimating a cost-benefit analysis useful for future possible KBE implementations

Nuclear Import of Smad: A Dissertation

Signal transduction by transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) cytokines is mediated by an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that depends on the Smad proteins to transduce an extracellular stimulus into the nucleus. In the unstimulated state, Smads spontaneously shuttle across the nuclear envelope and distribute throughout the cell. Upon TGF-β or bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) stimulation, the receptor-activated Smads are phosphorylated, assemble into complexes with Smad4, and become mostly localized in the nucleus. Such signal-induced nuclear translocation of activated Smads is essential for TGF-β–dependent gene regulation that is critical for embryonic development and homeostasis. The molecular machinery responsible for this process, especially how the activated Smads are imported as complexes, is not entirely clear. Thus, I became interested in investigating the molecular requirements for nuclear targeting of Smads upon stimulation. Recently, whole-genome RNAi screening offers a complementary cell-based approach to functionally identify molecules that mediate nuclear accumulation of Smads in response to TGF-β. In the first part of this dissertation, I performed a genome-wide RNAi screen that uncovered the importin moleskin (Msk) required in nuclear import of Dpp-activated MAD. Both genetic and biochemical studies further confirmed this finding. I also investigated Smad interactions with the Msk mammalian orthologues, Importin7 and 8 and validated that Smads are bona fide cargos of Imp7/8. Besides the importin Msk, the screen also uncovered a subset of nucleoporins as required factors in signal-induced nuclear accumulation of MAD. Thus in the second part of this thesis, I focused on how the NPC mediates this Msk-dependent nuclear import of activated MAD. Most of these nucleoporins, including Sec13, Nup75, Nup93 and Nup205, were thought to be structural nucleoporins without known cargo-specific functions. We, however, demonstrated that this subset of nucleoporins was specifically used in the Msk-dependent nuclear import of activated MAD but not the constitutive import of cargos containing a classic nuclear localization signal (cNLS). I also uncovered novel pathway-specific functions of Sec13 and Nup93. Regulation of TGF-β signaling can be achieved not only by modulating Smad nuclear translocation but also by modifying Smad phosphorylation status. Previously we identified a kinase, Misshapen (Msn), that caused the linker phosphorylation of MAD, resulting in negative regulation of Dpp signaling (Drosophila BMP). In the third part of this thesis, I investigated the biological relevance of Msn kinase to Dpp signaling in Drosophila wings. Both over-expression and RNAi studies suggest that Msn is a negative regulator of the Dpp/MAD pathway in vivo. As a whole, my findings delineated two critical requirements for MAD nuclear import: the importin Msk and a unique subset of nucleoporins. For the first time, structural Nups are implicated in the direct involvement of cargo import, providing a unique trans-NPC mechanism

Live Piloting and Prototyping Services

This paper presents current trends in service design research concerning large scale projects aimed at generating changes at a local scale. The strategy adopted to achieve this, is to co-design solutions including future users in the development process, prototyping and testing system of products and services before their actual implementation. On the basis of experience achieved in the European Project Life 2.0, this paper discusses which methods and competencies are applied in the development of these projects, eliciting the lessons learnt especially from the piloting phase in which the participatory design (PD) approach plays a major role. In the first part, the topic is introduced jointly with the theoretical background where the user center design and participatory design methods are presented; then the Life 2.0 project development is described; finally the experience is discussed from a service design perspective, eliciting guidelines for piloting and prototyping services in a real context of use. The paper concludes reflecting on the designers’ role and competencies needed in this process

The origin of the Hox/ParaHox genes, the Ghost Locus hypothesis and the complexity of the first animal

A key aim in evolutionary biology is to deduce ancestral states in order to better understand the evolutionary origins of clades of interest and the diversification process(es) that have elaborated them. These ancestral deductions can hit difficulties when undetected loss events are misinterpreted as ancestral absences. With the ever-increasing amounts of animal genomic sequence data we are gaining a much clearer view of the preponderance of differential gene losses across animal lineages. This has become particularly clear with recent progress in our understanding of the origins of the Hox/ParaHox developmental control genes relative to the earliest branching lineages of the animal kingdom: the sponges (Porifera), comb jellies (Ctenophora) and placozoans (Placozoa). These reassessments of the diversity and complexity of developmental control genes in the earliest animal ancestors need to go hand-in-hand with complementary advances in comparative morphology, phylogenetics and palaeontology in order to clarify our understanding of the complexity of the last common ancestor of all animals. The field is currently undergoing a shift from the traditional consensus of a sponge-like animal ancestor from which morphological and molecular elaboration subsequently evolved, to a scenario of a more complex animal ancestor, with subsequent losses and simplifications in various lineages.PostprintPeer reviewe