Real-time digital modelling in design education and practice

Real-time modelling represents the first thoroughgoing application of the digital realm to architecture and urban design, and as such marks a clear advance on the partial applications that were previously the norm. The authors have pooled their combined expertise in architecture and computer games to adapt the principles and techniques of real-time environments from computer games to designing buildings. The outcome is proprietary software called Cadai, which allows architectural and urban design proposals to be modelled in realistic detail, both externally and internally, and then be "walked" around in their entirety by viewers. This paper argues that real-time modelling offers three advances on previous forms of 3D digital modelling: it enables digital modelling to be used from the earliest sketch stages of a design project; it allows collective online meetings of the project team inside the evolving design scheme, wherever the participants are in the world; and it enables greater user-participation in decisions about planning schemes, given that anyone familiar with computer game environments can now properly understand and experience architectural and urban design proposals. The paper explains the properties of Cadai and showcases some real-time models built by students at Oxford Brookes University and the University of Westminster, along with the first major commercial real-time model produced in Cadai for a brownfield development proposal in Northern England. Our contention is that real-time modelling will soon become the dominant way that computers operate in architectural and urban design, and will remain so for the foreseeable future

Improving Diagnostic Accuracy of Anaphylaxis in the Acute Care Setting

The identification and appropriate management of those at highest risk for life-threatening anaphylaxis remains a clinical enigma. The most widely used criteria for such patients were developed in a symposium convened by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease/Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. In this paper we review the current literature on the diagnosis of acute allergic reactions as well as atypical presentations that clinicians should recognize. Review of case series reveals significant variability in definition and approach to this common and potentially life-threatening condition. Series on fatal cases of anaphylaxis indicate that mucocutaneous signs and symptoms occur less frequently than in milder cases. Of biomarkers studied to aid in the work-up of possible anaphylaxis, drawing blood during the initial six hours of an acute reaction for analysis of serum tryptase has been recommended in atypical cases. This can provide valuable information when a definitive diagnosis cannot be made by history and physical exam

Inducers of Friend leukaemic cell differentiation in vitro--effects of in vivo administration.

Studies were conducted of the in vivo therapeutic potential of compounds which induce the differentiation of Friend leukaemia cells (FLC) in vitro. DBA2/J mice were inoculated with Friend leukaemia cells grown in tissue culture and at various times thereafter were treated with either N-methylacetamide, dimethylacetamide, or tetramethylurea. While survival was only occasionally prolonged, in every study these agents significantly inhibited leukaemia cell proliferation in the spleen and to a lesser extent in the marrow. These agents had no effect on the rate of proliferation of FLC growing subcutaneously nor on the proliferation of myeloid leukaemia in RFMS mice. These studies indicate that the administration of inducing agents to mice bearing Friend leukaemia can alter the proliferation characteristics of the leukaemia cells and hence suggest that these agents may have therapeutic potential

Self-Organized Criticality in Compact Plasmas

Compact plasmas, that exist near black-hole candidates and in gamma ray burst sources, commonly exhibit self-organized non-linear behavior. A model that simulates the non-linear behavior of compact radiative plasmas is constructed directly from the observed luminosity and variability. The simulation shows that such plasmas self organize, and that the degree of non-linearity as well as the slope of the power density spectrum increase with compactness. The simulation is based on a cellular automaton table that includes the properties of the hot (relativistic) plasmas, and the magnitude of the energy perturbations. The plasmas cool or heat up, depending on whether they release more or less than the energy of a single perturbation. The energy release depends on the plasmas densities and temperatures, and the perturbations energy. Strong perturbations may cool the previously heated plasma through shocks and/or pair creation. New observations of some active galactic nuclei and gamma ray bursters are consistent with the simulationComment: 9 pages, 5 figures, AASTeX, Submitted to ApJ

A model of electrical resistivity beneath NE-Iceland, correlation with temperature

Short period magnetotelluric measurements (15 s–1 h) were made at 19 sites in NE-Iceland, distributed over the neovolcanic zone and the adjoining older Tertiary flood basalt areas. With model-calculations of one- and two-dimensional resistivity distributions a characteristic model was found for the lower crust and upper mantle. Beneath a thin surface layer the resistivity is 100 Ωm except within the active neovolcanic zone where it is 50 Ωm. This layer extends to a layer with low resistivity of 15 Ωm. The low-resistivity layer is about 5 km thick. The depth of its upper boundary increases from 10 km to about 20 km with increasing distance from the rift axis. The resistivity beneath the low-resistivity layer is about 100 Ωm down to at least 100 km. Comparison of field data with laboratory measurements on conductivity at high temperatures indicates that the low-resistivity layer consists of partially molten basalt at a temperature of 1,000° –1,100° C. The underlying layer very probably consists of partially molten ultramafic rocks and is presumably the uppermost part of the mantle beneath Iceland. The basaltic low-resistivity layer is interpreted as the base of the crust formed by upward movement of the basaltic melt fraction from the mantle.         ARK: https://n2t.net/ark:/88439/y021104 Permalink: https://geophysicsjournal.com/article/77 &nbsp

Radio Emission and Particle Acceleration in SN 1993J

The radio light curves of SN 1993J are found to be well fit by a synchrotron spectrum, suppressed by external free-free absorption and synchrotron self-absorption. A standard r^-2 circumstellar medium is assumed, and found to be adequate. The magnetic field and number density of relativistic electrons behind the shock are determined. The strength of the magnetic field argues strongly for turbulent amplification behind the shock. The ratio of the magnetic and thermal energy density behind the shock is ~0.14. Synchrotron and Coulomb cooling dominate the losses of the electrons. The injected electron spectrum has a power law index -2.1, consistent with diffusive shock acceleration, and the number density scales with the thermal electron energy density. The total energy density of the relativistic electrons is, if extrapolated to gamma ~ 1, ~ 5x10^-4 of the thermal energy density. The free-free absorption required is consistent with previous calculations of the circumstellar temperature of SN 1993J, T_e ~ (2-10)x10^5 K. The relative importance of free-free absorption, Razin suppression, and the synchrotron self-absorption effect for other supernovae are briefly discussed. Guidelines for the modeling and interpretation of VLBI observations are given.Comment: accepted for Ap.

Electron-Positron Pairs in Hot Accretion Flows and Thin Disk Coronae

We investigate equilibrium accretion flows dominated by $e^+ e^-$ pairs. We consider one- and two-temperature accretion disk coronae above a thin disk, as well as hot optically thin two-temperature accretion flows without an underlying thin disk; we model the latter in the framework of advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs). In all three cases we include equipartition magnetic fields. We confirm the previous result that the equilibrium density of pairs in two-temperature ADAFs is negligible; and show that the inclusion of magnetic fields and the corresponding synchrotron cooling reduces the pair density even further. Similarly, we find that pairs are unimportant in two-temperature coronae. Even when the corona has significantly enhanced heating by direct transfer of viscous dissipation in the thin disk to the corona, the inefficient Coulomb coupling between protons and electrons acts as a bottleneck and prevents the high compactness required for pair-dominated solutions. Only in the case of a one-temperature corona model do we find pair-dominated thermal equilibria. These pair-dominated solutions occur over a limited range of optical depth and temperature.Comment: 38 pages, including 10 figures, LaTeX; to appear in Ap

The choroid plexus and cerebrospinal fluid: Emerging roles in development, disease, and therapy

Although universally recognized as the source of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the choroid plexus (ChP) has been one of the most understudied tissues in neuroscience. The reasons for this are multiple and varied, including historical perceptions about passive and permissive roles for the ChP, experimental issues, and lack of clinical salience. However, recent work on the ChP and instructive signals in the CSF have sparked new hypotheses about how the ChP and CSF provide unexpected means for regulating nervous system structure and function in health and disease, as well as new ChP-based therapeutic approaches using pluripotent stem cell technology. This minisymposium combines new and established investigators to capture some of the newfound excitement surrounding the ChP-CSF system

Bicalutamide-Associated Acute Liver Injury and Migratory Arthralgia: A Rare but Clinically Important Adverse Effect

Publisher's version (útgefin grein).We describe a case of acute liver injury and migratory arthralgia in a patient receiving bicalutamide treatment for prostate cancer. A 67-year-old male with metastatic prostate cancer presented with a 6-day history of migratory arthralgia. He had been undergoing treatment with bicalutamide for 4 months; 3 weeks prior to symptom appearance the bicalutamide dose had been increased. He had no other symptoms. Liver tests and inflammatory markers were markedly elevated. Serology for hepatitis viruses A, B, and C, CMV, and EBV and autoimmune causes were all negative, and an ultrasound of the upper abdomen was normal. There was no history of blood transfusion, intravenous drug abuse, or alcohol abuse. Due to the suspicion of a drug-induced symptomatology, bicalutamide was discontinued and the patient started on 30 mg prednisolone daily. Three weeks later he was symptom free and after 6 weeks his liver tests were almost normal. The Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method (RUCAM) suggested a high probability of liver injury. Bicalutamide has very rarely been reported as a causative agent for liver injury and to our knowledge never for migratory polyarthralgia. The migratory polyarthralgia was attributed to bicalutamide due to the absence of other etiological factors and the disappearance of symptoms after discontinuation of the drug. To our knowledge, this is the first published case report of migratory arthralgia and concomitant liver injury attributed to bicalutamide.Peer Reviewe