Notes on institutional architecture ; towards and understanding of erasure and coversation

Material Conversations /məˈtirēəl/ /ˌkänvərˈsāSH(ə)ns/ noun 1. derived from an early memory of forming relationships to objects, a way to understand the physical environment through a scaling down process that follows, but is not limited to, space, element, material. 2. the way in which material components are tectonically related 3. a process which would inform one to work with materials in a way which is conceptually informed by both aforementioned definitions 4. an integral aspect of architectural design, Material Conversations enable the architect to establish a language with which to relate to the components of their work, to better speak to those they design for. I was raised in a religiously adjacent home. Sunday mornings spent in a twill padded pew, the first half hour spent singing. I always mouthed the words, I hated the idea of my voice, out of tune, creating discord amidst the chorus. I was six, or maybe four, probably eight. The twill of a pew, the wood of a bench, the concrete of a step, the powder-coated steel of a column; all these became moments of familiarity in spite of their setting. Here began an understanding of my relation to space; an imagined conversation between myself and these tactile moments gave meaning to that moment in space. Just as one seeks out familiarity in a crowded room of strangers, I sought out the familiarity of the material qualities of inhuman objects, elements, furniture, etc. These early memories form my architectural intent; to establish conversations between myself and the materials I work with, for the sake of creating a means to converse with others through built environment and informed spatial dialogue. This intent drove me to architecture, as a means to learn the language I was speaking to those materials, with the hopes that in learning to translate those conversations, I could connect to others as a means to actualize their needs for spatial connection. But, what I have learned is that material conversation is not the substance of a masters degree in architecture, instead there is talk of societal change, political empowerment, projection of identity, institutional reform, and paradoxical theorization (just to name a few). These are conversations I have participated and reveled in. These are conversations which comprised my projects within the institution of architecture that I am writing this in. These are conversations which must be had to produce an architecture that is more than a selfish expression. But to leave out a conversation in the process of design is to ignore a foundation of what informs design as a greater concept. Here I will explore how a conversation is erased, misunderstood, and retold. Material conversation is a core memory which has taken me four years within an institution of architecture to recall. With this recollection, I seek to express how the absence of this conversation as an integral foundation of a developing architectural practice can produce acts of erasure and misinformed recollections. This is an archive of subjectified contexts and de-objectified subjects, which informs a culmination of both in a composed representation. By fragmenting and erasing both information that I find superfluous, as well as information I find vital; then ultimately collaging an amalgamation of these artifacts, I seek to demonstrate how the act of erasure is an intuition fostered and encouraged by the institution of architecture. The church, as a metaphor for architecture, is an entity which is rife with both constructive and problematic conversation. [Working] Artifacts in this archive include: historical preservation designation documents, historic American buildings survey documents and photographs, postcards, false combinations, architectural drawings, photographs of ephemera, redactions, flagrant manipulations, acts of erasure, not-so-clever lies, and other assorted realizations

“Closer Together”: Using digital storytelling to chart how Melbourne’s aging Irish community uses social media

"From the Great Famine, through to the mass departures of the 1950s and the ‘lost’ generation of the 1980s, modern Irish history has been marked by emigration. Yet in contrast to past mass departures, the availability of new media will ensure that the current generation will not be ‘lost’, when they can so easily be tagged, tweeted, and skyped. However, the enthusiasm for this “Generation Skype” has seen older Irish immigrants largely ignored. This paper will chart how Irish people who moved to Melbourne before the availability of digital technologies now make use of new media to connect with the Irish community in Australia and back in Ireland. This paper is based on a larger research project that uses digital storytelling techniques to allow older people, who are often dismissed as falling on the other side of the digital divide, to reflect on their engagement with new media. Specifically, this paper will draw on surveys with over forty older Irish people in Melbourne and more than a dozen on-camera interviews. The many topics discussed by participants include: pre-digital communications practices, difficulties using new technologies, motivation for adopting social media, connection to Irish groups in Melbourne, and narrowing the distance between Ireland and Australia. From these unique stories and experiences a picture of Melbourne’s Irish community emerges, yet each across each account there is a desire to connect a community whose stories have all too often gone untold."info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Krylov Subspace Recycling With Randomized Sketching For Matrix Functions

A Krylov subspace recycling method for the efficient evaluation of a sequence of matrix functions acting on a set of vectors is developed. The method improves over the recycling methods presented in [Burke et al., arXiv:2209.14163, 2022] in that it uses a closed-form expression for the augmented FOM approximants and hence circumvents the use of numerical quadrature. We further extend our method to use randomized sketching in order to avoid the arithmetic cost of orthogonalizing a full Krylov basis, offering an attractive solution to the fact that recycling algorithms built from shifted augmented FOM cannot easily be restarted. The efficacy of the proposed algorithms is demonstrated with numerical experiments.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

The revolving door between hospital and community: extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in Dublin.

BACKGROUND: Escherichia coli that produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) are an increasing cause of healthcare-associated infection, and community healthcare facilities may be a reservoir for important epidemic clones. AIM: To characterize retrospectively and investigate the epidemiology of ESBL-producing E. coli collected in a Dublin hospital, during 2009 and 2010, and to investigate the dissemination of specific clones within hospital and community healthcare facilities. METHODS: Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used to determine the genetic relatedness of 100 ESBL-producing E. coli isolates. Phylogenetic groups were determined and the O25b-ST131 clone identified in the collection. The genetic data were correlated with antimicrobial susceptibility, clinical and demographic data to explore the epidemiology of specific clones. FINDINGS: Phylogenetic groups B2 (62%) and D (18%) were the most common and were associated with non-urinary isolates (P CONCLUSIONS: E. coli O25b-ST131 is largely responsible for ESBL-producing E. coli in LTCFs in Dublin. The distribution of ESBL-producing E. coli in our hospital and community highlights a \u27revolving door\u27 through which these resistant bacteria spread and disseminate

The epidemiology of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae and an investigation of a novel therapeutic peptide conjugate.

Herein we studied the epidemiology of two species of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae causing clinical infections and investigated the potential of a novel host defence peptide conjugate as a therapeutic agent against these infections. We first characterised 100 ESBL-producing E. coli (ESBL-EC) collected over two years that caused infections in patients of Beaumont Hospital and in community patients attending general practitioners or residing in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) in North Dublin. Using molecular typing techniques, we found that this cohort of isolates was both clonal and sporadic in nature and that the pandemic ST131 clone was dominant in community and hospital patients and comprised 54% of isolates overall. We found UK epidemic strain A, which belongs to this clone and is the most frequently identified strain in the United Kingdom, was responsible for 34% of infections locally. LTCFs were identified as a reservoir of ST131 and we provided evidence for the spread of this clone via the hospitalisation of LTCF residents. Detailed molecular characterisation of the ESBL-EC collection was then carried out to identify the specific ESBL genes present and the mechanisms involved in their mobilisation, expression and dissemination in North Dublin. As previously reported nationwide, CTX-M genes of groups 1 or 9 were the most common. Almost half were associated with the ISEcpl insertion sequence, which facilitated high-level expression of the blact x -m gene by the ISEcpl promoter. Presence of the insertion sequence IS26 within ISEcpl was characteristic of UK strain A isolates and was associated with reduced expression of blact x - m - Class 1 integrons, genetic platforms for the expression of mobile resistance genes, were present in two thirds of ESBL-EC, contained genes for resistance to trimethoprim, aminoglycosides and sulphonamides and had a reservoir in local livestock and companion animals. Four isolates contained complex class one integrons, bearing CTX-M-9 or CTX-M-2 alleles downstream of the ISCR1 insertion sequence, a feature of these elements. ESBL plasmids were transferred in 33% of isolates and the most prevalent incompatibility types were varied multireplicon IncF plasmids and Incll plasmids. These plasmids were similar to those previously identified in E. coli of human and animal origin throughout Western Europe in recent years. However, some new combinations of plasmid types and CTX-M genes were also noted. The spread of CTX-M-1 was associated with Incll and IncN plasmids commonly associated with food animal strains. Our data supports significant roles for both horizontal spread of CTX-M via conjugative IncF, Incll and IncN plasmids and vertical spread of CTX-M via clonal expansion of ST131 in North Dublin. Non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica (NTS) resistant to third generation cephalosporins are an emerging problem because they are frequently MDR and therefore therapeutic options to treat infections with these bacteria are limited. The mechanisms of cefotaxime resistance in 121 cefotaxime-resistant NTS collected over two years throughout England and Wales were examined. We found that the recent increase in cefotaxime resistance was mediated predominantly by group 1 CTX-M enzymes and AmpC enzymes of the CMY variety. Commonly identified ESBL genes matched those detected amongst food-producing animals and human clinical isolates in Europe. A high rate of multidrug-resistance was identified and almost half of NTS were co-resistant to ciprofloxacin, a favoured therapeutic option. Our data support travelassociated spread of resistant strains to the UK from locally endemic areas and local acquisition of strains producing food-animal associated ESBL and AmpC genes. Finally, we evaluated a novel hybrid therapeutic agent, Bac8cP, which is composed of a synthetically-optimised host defence peptide that is conjugated to the cephalosporin antibiotic cephalothin. This molecule was designed as a prodrug to achieve targeted activation at the site of bacterial infection, where interaction with p-lactamase or penicillin-binding proteins releases the cephalothin promolety, thus activating the host defence peptide. The conjugate had good in vitro activity against ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae and also against MDR Gram-positives. However, further investigation of its mechanism of action against isogenic derivatives of E. coli BL21, which differed in their expression of CTX-M-15, showed that the hybrid molecule also had residual activity in its conjugated form. Nonetheless, this information is crucial to the optimisation of future host defence peptide conjugates of this nature, which may be developed as broad-spectrum antimicrobials for parenteral administration against MDR bacteria

Continuity or change? Poor Relief in Wales, c.1770-1901

It will be demonstrated here that the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act had much more of an impact in Wales than other historians have allowed. For instance, the administrative framework of the New Poor Law was implemented relatively quickly in Wales. The scale of resistance to the workhouse system in Wales has also been grossly over-exaggerated. Furthermore, although many Old Poor Law policies initially continued to be practiced in Wales under the New Poor Law, by the end of the nineteenth century, many of these practices had been phased out or otherwise stopped. It will also be demonstrated here that poor relief was not as generous, nor the Welsh boards of guardians as humane as other historians have claimed

A critical review of current progress in 3D kidney biomanufacturing: advances, challenges, and recommendations

The widening gap between organ availability and need is resulting in a worldwide crisis, particularly concerning kidney transplantation. Regenerative medicine options are becoming increasingly advanced and are taking advantage of progress in novel manufacturing techniques, including 3D bioprinting, to deliver potentially viable alternatives. Cell-integrated and wearable artificial kidneys aim to create convenient and efficient systems of filtration and restore elements of immunoregulatory function. Whilst preliminary clinical trials demonstrated promise, manufacturing and trial design issues and identification of suitable and sustainable cell sources have shown that more development is required for market progression. Tissue engineering and advances in biomanufacturing techniques offer potential solutions for organ shortages; however, due to the complex kidney structure, previous attempts have fallen short. With the recent development and progression of 3D bioprinting, cell positioning and resolution of material deposition in organ manufacture have never seen greater control. Cell sources for constructing kidney building blocks and populating both biologic and artificial scaffolds and matrices have been identified, but in vitro culturing and/or differentiation, in addition to maintaining phenotype and viability during and after lengthy and immature manufacturing processes, presents additional problems. For all techniques, significant process barriers, clinical pathway identification for translation of models to humans, scaffold material availability, and long-term biocompatibility need to be addressed prior to clinical realisation

Search and you will find: detecting extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae from a patient\u27s immediate environment.

Contamination of inanimate surfaces contribute to the transmission of healthcare-associated infection which is well documented for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci VRE (3, 5, 10). The high rate of skin colonisation with these bacteria among healthcare workers increases the risk of cross-contamination of high-touch surfaces (6). Since Gram-negative bacteria survive poorly on surfaces, their role in transmission of infection has not been as widely investigated. Extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing enterobacteriaciae (ESBL-PE) are now widespread and endemic in nosocomial settings (2, 4) and given the increasing prevalence of infections involving ESBL-PE, the role of the environment in ESBL-PE transmission should be explored. This study reports the evaluation of two ESBL-PE recovery methods from typical hospital surface materials and their application for recovery of ESBL-PE adjacent to an ESBL-positive patient

An unidentified Fermi source emitting radio bursts in the Galactic bulge

We report on the detection of radio bursts from the Galactic bulge using the real-time transient detection and localization system, realfast. The pulses were detected commensally on the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array during a survey of unidentified Fermi $\gamma$-ray sources. The bursts were localized to subarcsecond precision using realfast fast-sampled imaging. Follow-up observations with the Green Bank Telescope detected additional bursts from the same source. The bursts do not exhibit periodicity in a search up to periods of 480s, assuming a duty cycle of < 20%. The pulses are nearly 100% linearly polarized, show circular polarization up to 12%, have a steep radio spectral index of -2.7, and exhibit variable scattering on timescales of months. The arcsecond-level realfast localization links the source confidently with the Fermi $\gamma$-ray source and places it nearby (though not coincident with) an XMM-Newton X-ray source. Based on the source's overall properties, we discuss various options for the nature of this object and propose that it could be a young pulsar, magnetar, or a binary pulsar system.Comment: Submitted to The Astrophysical Journa

DoDo Learning: DOmain-DemOgraphic Transfer in Language Models for Detecting Abuse Targeted at Public Figures

Public figures receive a disproportionate amount of abuse on social media, impacting their active participation in public life. Automated systems can identify abuse at scale but labelling training data is expensive, complex and potentially harmful. So, it is desirable that systems are efficient and generalisable, handling both shared and specific aspects of online abuse. We explore the dynamics of cross-group text classification in order to understand how well classifiers trained on one domain or demographic can transfer to others, with a view to building more generalisable abuse classifiers. We fine-tune language models to classify tweets targeted at public figures across DOmains (sport and politics) and DemOgraphics (women and men) using our novel DODO dataset, containing 28,000 labelled entries, split equally across four domain-demographic pairs. We find that (i) small amounts of diverse data are hugely beneficial to generalisation and model adaptation; (ii) models transfer more easily across demographics but models trained on cross-domain data are more generalisable; (iii) some groups contribute more to generalisability than others; and (iv) dataset similarity is a signal of transferability.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 4 table