Constructing Regular Triangulation via Local Transformations: Theoretical and Practical Advances

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Configraphics:

This dissertation reports a PhD research on mathematical-computational models, methods, and techniques for analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of spatial configurations in architecture and urban design. Spatial configuration is a technical term that refers to the particular way in which a set of spaces are connected to one another as a network. Spatial configuration affects safety, security, and efficiency of functioning of complex buildings by facilitating certain patterns of movement and/or impeding other patterns. In cities and suburban built environments, spatial configuration affects accessibilities and influences travel behavioural patterns, e.g. choosing walking and cycling for short trips instead of travelling by cars. As such, spatial configuration effectively influences the social, economic, and environmental functioning of cities and complex buildings, by conducting human movement patterns. In this research, graph theory is used to mathematically model spatial configurations in order to provide intuitive ways of studying and designing spatial arrangements for architects and urban designers. The methods and tools presented in this dissertation are applicable in: arranging spatial layouts based on configuration graphs, e.g. by using bubble diagrams to ensure certain spatial requirements and qualities in complex buildings; and analysing the potential effects of decisions on the likely spatial performance of buildings and on mobility patterns in built environments for systematic comparison of designs or plans, e.g. as to their aptitude for pedestrians and cyclists. The dissertation reports two parallel tracks of work on architectural and urban configurations. The core concept of the architectural configuration track is the ‘bubble diagram’ and the core concept of the urban configuration track is the ‘easiest paths’ for walking and cycling. Walking and cycling have been chosen as the foci of this theme as they involve active physical, cognitive, and social encounter of people with built environments, all of which are influenced by spatial configuration. The methodologies presented in this dissertation have been implemented in design toolkits and made publicly available as freeware applications

Exploratory GIS: Modelling Past Land Use and Occupancy with Functional Connectivity, Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area, NSW, Australia

Exploratory GIS models present multiple different conceptual versions of space. This article focusses on the landscape level pathways between areas defined as suitable for land use and occupancy within the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area (WLRWHA), New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Models of the potential connections between ecologically significant land use patches and key hydrology provide iterative networks of functional connectivity, highlighting salient pathways of past land use and occupancy of Country. The shape of the connections between places is important to understanding Country from the inside. Outputs from these network models are a powerful visualisation tool because they display areas where contact with the 19thc Europeans, particularly through fence construction and ground water appropriation, caused greater levels of exploitation and damage than currently recognised. Concomitantly, the benefit of situating these network techniques within an exploratory framework cannot be understated. The iterative nature of the exploratory design allows for multiple presentations of the connectivity between the spaces within the WLRWHA and therefore multiple ways of knowing and seeing space. Modelling the potential pathways between suitable patches opens the door to discussions about the diverse possible corridors of activity within pre-European settlement of Country and the corollary discussion of how European settlement substantially impacted upon these connections and continues to impact on a living Country

Progress in Group Field Theory and Related Quantum Gravity Formalisms

Following the fundamental insights from quantum mechanics and general relativity, geometry itself should have a quantum description; the search for a complete understanding of this description is what drives the field of quantum gravity. Group field theory is an ambitious framework in which theories of quantum geometry are formulated, incorporating successful ideas from the fields of matrix models, ten-sor models, spin foam models and loop quantum gravity, as well as from the broader areas of quantum field theory and mathematical physics. This special issue collects recent work in group field theory and these related approaches, as well as other neighbouring fields (e.g., cosmology, quantum information and quantum foundations, statistical physics) to the extent that these are directly relevant to quantum gravity research

A Unified Framework for Parallel Anisotropic Mesh Adaptation

Finite-element methods are a critical component of the design and analysis procedures of many (bio-)engineering applications. Mesh adaptation is one of the most crucial components since it discretizes the physics of the application at a relatively low cost to the solver. Highly scalable parallel mesh adaptation methods for High-Performance Computing (HPC) are essential to meet the ever-growing demand for higher fidelity simulations. Moreover, the continuous growth of the complexity of the HPC systems requires a systematic approach to exploit their full potential. Anisotropic mesh adaptation captures features of the solution at multiple scales while, minimizing the required number of elements. However, it also introduces new challenges on top of mesh generation. Also, the increased complexity of the targeted cases requires departing from traditional surface-constrained approaches to utilizing CAD (Computer-Aided Design) kernels. Alongside the functionality requirements, is the need of taking advantage of the ubiquitous multi-core machines. More importantly, the parallel implementation needs to handle the ever-increasing complexity of the mesh adaptation code. In this work, we develop a parallel mesh adaptation method that utilizes a metric-based approach for generating anisotropic meshes. Moreover, we enhance our method by interfacing with a CAD kernel, thus enabling its use on complex geometries. We evaluate our method both with fixed-resolution benchmarks and within a simulation pipeline, where the resolution of the discretization increases incrementally. With the Telescopic Approach for scalable mesh generation as a guide, we propose a parallel method at the node (multi-core) for mesh adaptation that is expected to scale up efficiently to the upcoming exascale machines. To facilitate an effective implementation, we introduce an abstract layer between the application and the runtime system that enables the use of task-based parallelism for concurrent mesh operations. Our evaluation indicates results comparable to state-of-the-art methods for fixed-resolution meshes both in terms of performance and quality. The integration with an adaptive pipeline offers promising results for the capability of the proposed method to function as part of an adaptive simulation. Moreover, our abstract tasking layer allows the separation of different aspects of the implementation without any impact on the functionality of the method

A Laboratory of Common Interest: contesting the economisation of space in Limerick city through the practice of aesthetic work

This arts practice-based research [APBR] addresses a political and ethical problem, namely how a creative practice can operate contrary to the destructive, predatory forces of extractive capitalism. The research took the systemic, socio-spatial violence of enclosure and economisation as a starting point, anchored in the concrete conditions of Limerick city, to test the critical, political possibilities of collaborative, cultural work. From an examination of the ways in which lived space is subsumed under the abstractive logic of ‘the Economy’, two processes of abstraction and enclosure are isolated and examined: i) a hollowing out of publicness, captured by the lexigraph public (strikethrough), and ii) a process described as the economisation of space, a hegemonic framing of urban space in purely economic terms, which draws local inhabitants into a performative idea of what the city means, and who it is for. Working through a socially engaged process, a critical and cognitive mapping methodology was conjoined with the emergent phenomena of aesthetic events, to generate ways of knowing, producing and acting in common, contrary to processes of enclosure and economisation. Through an extended analysis of selected aesthetic actions – Free*Space; Critical Cartographies; Contested Sites; and The Laboratory of Common Interest (2015 – 2019) – the thesis argues i) that the social order of extractive capitalism is underpinned by an aesthetic order, which acts upon the embodied dispositions of populations; and ii) that the aesthetic order is susceptible to modification through a practice identified as aesthetic work, which is unpacked and explicated in detail. The thesis includes a fully diagrammatic chapter that deliberately interrupts the research narrative, complicating the question of how knowledge is understood, produced and validated, and by whom

The cartography of capitalism: cartographic evidence for the emergence of the capitalist world-system in early modern europe

The economic competition between the Netherlands, France and England is documented in the atlases published in Amsterdam, Paris and London between 1500 and 1800. However, the relationship between mapping and economic processes remains mostly unexplored in the history of cartography. World-system theory has application to the history of cartography in the early modern period for identifying the linkages between cartography and long-term economic processes.This research analyzes the production of maps, specifically in world and maritime atlases, in these three cities as the geographic expression of the emergent capitalist world system in early modern Europe. The economic concepts of core and periphery as proposed by Immanuel Wallerstein are defined cartographically in the structural morphologies of Dutch, French and English atlases published in this period. Each country mapped itself as a core and such cartographic self-definitions reflect their individual geographic and economic contexts. The Netherlands and England created core atlases in the sixteenth century that evolved in support of business and transport as well as state interests. The French core atlas initiated at the end of the seventeenth century was a governmentally sponsored survey dedicated primarily toward state administration control. The Netherlands, Fance and England also mapped their continental and extra-European peripheries in world and maritime atlases. Dutch engagement in long-distance trade in agricultural commodities created world-system commodity chains of production. Dutch maritime atlases defined these networks of commercial opportunity for the first time. The creators of the first printed world atlases, Dutch cartographers also structured their productions of atlases as a commercial enterprise marketed toward an international clientele. Dutch maritime atlases were an important innovation and Amsterdam atlas publication dominated cartography in the seventeenth century. English publishers adopted Dutch innovations in map production and succeeded to dominance in printing atlases whose structural morphology embodies a world-system of commodity networks. The relationship of cartography to long-term economic processes is demonstrated by the Dutch and English atlases. Early modern world atlases portray the cartographic world-view of core and periphery. The maritime atlases provide the first portrayal of long-distance trade networks that continue to characterize the capitalist exchange of commodities globally

A Freudian <i>Dream</i>: Interpretations of <i>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</i> by Psychoanalysts and Psychoanalytically Informed Literary Critics

The thesis analyses interpretations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Freudian and post-Freudian clinicians, and by literary critics influenced by psychoanalytic theory. The primary material is principally taken from the Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing database, and includes 37 papers or chapters by psychoanalysts and some by psychoanalytically informed literary critics, addressing aspects of the Dream. This considerable body of critical analysis of the play has largely been ignored by literary critics. Certain themes in this substantial body of criticism are identified and analysed: how dreams in the play have been variously interpreted psychoanalytically; the clinical interest in dreams within a dream and the relevance of this to the play and to the device of the play within the play; the dark side of the Dream including the function of comedy to disguise the play’s nightmare quality; and the dominance of oedipal interpretations to the neglect of other aspects of Freud’s writing about love. The thesis considers how far psychoanalytic criticism of the play reflects changes in psychoanalytic theory and phases of literary criticism. The thesis highlights the absence of meaningful interaction between Freudian clinicians and literary critics who examine the Dream during the same sixty year period from the 1950s, missing opportunities for productive intellectual dialogue. The thesis observes that literary critics refer more than clinicians to more recent psychoanalytic thinking; and that there are places where the clinicians could have enhanced their interpretations by reference to Freud’s writing on humour, on love and object choices, on illusion and transference-love. The thesis concludes that psychoanalytic critics of the play make a complementary contribution to literary criticism, and that the papers merit greater prominence in the reception history of the play