Building information modelling based ground modelling for tunnel projects – Tunnel Angath/Austria

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Applications of AFM in pharmaceutical sciences

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a high-resolution imaging technique that uses a small probe (tip and cantilever) to provide topographical information on surfaces in air or in liquid media. By pushing the tip into the surface or by pulling it away, nanomechanical data such as compliance (stiffness, Young’s Modulus) or adhesion, respectively, may be obtained and can also be presented visually in the form of maps displayed alongside topography images. This chapter outlines the principles of operation of AFM, describing some of the important imaging modes and then focuses on the use of the technique for pharmaceutical research. Areas include tablet coating and dissolution, crystal growth and polymorphism, particles and fibres, nanomedicine, nanotoxicology, drug-protein and protein-protein interactions, live cells, bacterial biofilms and viruses. Specific examples include mapping of ligand-receptor binding on cell surfaces, studies of protein-protein interactions to provide kinetic information and the potential of AFM to be used as an early diagnostic tool for cancer and other diseases. Many of these reported investigations are from 2011-2014, both from the literature and a few selected studies from the authors’ laboratories

Micrographia of the twenty-first century: from camera obscura to 4D microscopy

In this paper, the evolutionary and revolutionary developments of microscopic imaging are overviewed with a perspective on origins. From Alhazen’s camera obscura, to Hooke and van Leeuwenhoek’s two-dimensional optical micrography, and on to three- and four-dimensional (4D) electron microscopy, these developments over a millennium have transformed humans’ scope of visualization. The changes in the length and time scales involved are unimaginable, beginning with the visible shadows of candles at the centimetre and second scales, and ending with invisible atoms with space and time dimensions of sub-nanometre and femtosecond. With these advances it has become possible to determine the structures of matter and to observe their elementary dynamics as they unfold in real time. Such observations provide the means for visualizing materials behaviour and biological function, with the aim of understanding emergent phenomena in complex systems

An integrated platform for design and numerical analysis of shield tunnelling processes on different levels of detail

Building and construction information modelling for decision making during the life cycle of infrastructure projects are vital tools for the analysis of complex, integrated, multi-disciplinary systems. The traditional design process is cumbersome and involves significant manual, time-consuming preparation and analysis as well as significant computational resources. To ensure a seamless workflow during the design and analysis and to minimise the computation time, we propose a novel concept of multi-level numerical simulations, enabling the modelling on different Levels of Detail (LoDs) for each physical component, process information, and analysis type. In this paper, we present SATBIM, an integrated platform for information modelling, structural analysis and visualisation of the mechanised tunnelling process for design support. Based on a multi-level integrated parametric Tunnel Information Model, numerical models for each component on different LoDs are developed, considering proper geometric as well as material representation, interfaces and the representation of the construction process. Our fully automatic modeller for arbitrary tunnel alignments provides a high degree of automation for the generation, the setup and the execution of the simulation model, connecting the multi-level information model with the open-source simulation software KRATOS. The software of SATBIM is organized in a modular way in order to offer high flexibility not only for further extensions, but also for adaptation to future improvements of the simulation software. The SATBIM platform enables practical, yet flexible and user-friendly generation of the tunnel structure for arbitrary alignments on different LoDs, supporting the design process and providing an insight into soil-structure interactions during construction

Coherent tunneling by adiabatic passage in an optical waveguide system

We report on the first experimental demonstration of light transfer in an engineered triple-well optical waveguide structure which provides a classic analogue of Coherent Tunnelling by Adiabatic Passage (CTAP) recently proposed for coherent transport in space of neutral atoms or electrons among tunneling-coupled optical traps or quantum wells [A.D. Greentree et al., Phys. Rev. B 70, 235317 (2004); K. Eckert et al., Phys. Rev. A 70, 023606 (2004)]. The direct visualization of CTAP wavepacket dynamics enabled by our simple optical system clearly shows that in the counterintuitive passage scheme light waves tunnel between the two outer wells without appreciable excitation of the middle well.Comment: submitted for publicatio

Monitoring Galvanic Replacement Through Three-Dimensional Morphological and Chemical Mapping

Galvanic replacement reactions on metal nanoparticles are often used for the preparation of hollow nanostructures with tunable porosity and chemical composition, leading to tailored optical and catalytic properties. However, the precise interplay between the three-dimensional (3D) morphology and chemical composition of nanostructures during Galvanic replacement is not always well understood as the 3D chemical imaging of nanoscale materials is still challenging. It is especially far from straightforward to obtain detailed information from the inside of hollow nanostructures using electron microscopy techniques such as SEM or TEM. We demonstrate here that a combination of state-of-the-art EDX mapping with electron tomography results in the unambiguous determination of both morphology transformation and elemental composition of nanostructures in 3D, during Galvanic replacement of Ag nanocubes. This work provides direct and unambiguous experimental evidence leading to new insights in the understanding of the galvanic replacement reaction. In addition, the powerful approach presented here can be applied to a wide range of nanoscale transformation processes, which will undoubtedly guide the development of novel nanostructures

Discrete-Event Simulation versus Constrained Graphic Modelling of Construction Processes

Effective construction project planning and control requires the development of a model of the project’s construction processes.  The Critical Path Method (CPM) is the most popular project modelling method in construction since it is relatively simple to use and reasonably versatile in terms of the range of processes it can represent.  Several other modelling techniques have been developed over the years, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.  Linear scheduling, for example, has been designed to provide highly insightful visual representations of a construction process, but unfortunately is largely incapable of representing non-repetitive construction work.  Discrete-event simulation is generally agreed to be the most versatile of all modelling methods, but it lacks the simplicity in use of CPM and so has not been widely adopted in construction.  A new graphical constraint-based method of modelling construction processes, Foresight, has been developed with the goal of offering the simplicity in use of CPM, the visual insight of linear scheduling, and the versatility of simulation.  Earlier work has demonstrated the modelling versatility of Foresight.  As part of a continuing study, this paper focuses on a comparison of the Foresight approach with discrete-event construction simulation methods, specifically Stroboscope (a derivative of CYCLONE). Foresight is shown to outperform Stroboscope in terms of the simplicity of the resultant models for a series of case studies involving a number of variants of an earthmoving operation and of a sewer tunnelling operation.  A qualitative comparison of the two approaches also highlights the superior visual insight provided by Foresight over conventional simulation, an attribute essential to both the effective verification and optimization of a model

DESURBS deliverable 2.2: tools for the assessment of security threats

This report constitutes Deliverable 2.2 of the FP7 Security Program research project ‘Designing Safer Urban Spaces’ (DESURBS, Grant Agreement no. 261652). The purpose of this report is to highlight the examples of open access online security and resilience approaches and tools and key documents that support decision making in regard to the Integrated Security and Resilience (ISR) framework (WP2.3), the structure of which has been incorporated into all the WP2 deliverables. The report presents information on the approaches mentioned above, found during the course of an extensive literature review, and from data collection that has been undertaken in the Nottingham (UK) and Jerusalem (Israel) case study cities of the project. This deliverable demonstrates that there is a great number of tools and documents available online, however the majority of them are context-specific and can only provide partial information that can be useful in disaster risk management. It has been identified that many of the tools are multi-hazard and can be used in conjunction with international documents and guidelines. There is however a lack of open-access tools for specific hazards, in particular industrial accidents and ground movements. This is due to a high specificity of these events and a necessity to use high-tech equipment for identification of these hazards and their mitigation