Ranking residential neighborhoods based on their sustainability: A CM-BWM approach

Population growth and rapid urbanization have consequences that are reflected in the economic, environmental, and social stability of city-residential neighborhoods. These impacts directly affect not only residents but also real estate markets and local governments. The professionals working in the latter entities have become increasingly concerned about urban sustainability and its strategic integration into their plans. Strategies have been implemented that focus on both addressing negative aspects of residential neighborhoods and enhancing positive features that can contribute to the continuous improvement of locals’ living conditions. This study applies the multiple-criteria decision analysis approach and a combination of cognitive mapping and the best-worst method (BWM) to identify the most relevant criteria and use these to rank residential neighborhoods according to their sustainability. To apply the selected techniques, two group meetings were held with a panel of decision makers. The results were validated by the panel members and the Funchal City Council councilor for urbanism, who concurred that the proposed ranking system facilitates the identification of the most sustainable residential neighborhoods. The contributions and limitations of the methodological approach are also discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Transdisciplinary insight of digital architecture

The research outlines a historic perspective of transdisciplinary digital architecture through the work of key personalities by establishing links between them. Researches on digital architecture history are generally grounded on methods with limited sets of primary sources and data is lost. Following the increasing availability of digital data sources in the internet, which were not created and structured with research purposes in mind, new methods are required for mapping, analyzing and visualizing it. Data-driven and geospatial approaches can allow researchers to address multidimensional aspects and facts. This paper presents the first preliminary results of an ongoing research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Measuring urban renewal: a dual kernel density estimation to assess the intensity of building renovation

In the cities of post-industrialized countries, building renovation is the main part of building construction activity. Measuring that ongoing phenomenon is a problem of visualization and representation at which traditional representation tools and processes have some limitations. Databases are resources open to architectural research that provide new possibilities to develop design practice and theory. Methods related to data-driven tools can improve the analysis of the urban renovation phenomena and its distribution throughout urban areas and be of great usefulness for urban planning and public policies. To support these processes, Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) is an efficient tool that overcomes incomplete data, as not all renovation is reported to city halls. This article aims to provide a vision of the possibilities of integrating dispersed datasets. Using the city of Lisbon building permit alphanumerical and spatial database as a case study, we present preliminary work on a method of measuring building renovation intensity. Using Dual KDE we determine the intensity of building renovation across the city and along the time period, comparing the density of two different variables, the density of building renovation and the density of the city. We further provide two implementations of this methodology, using a parametric modelling environment and a GIS software.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Higher trait mindfulness is associated with empathy but not with emotion recognition abilities

Mindfulness involves an intentional and non-judgemental attention or awareness of present-moment experiences. It can be cultivated by meditation practice or present as an inherent disposition or trait. Higher trait mindfulness has been associated with improved emotional skills, but evidence comes primarily from studies on emotion regulation. It remains unclear whether improvements extend to other aspects of emotional processing, namely the ability to recognize emotions in others. In the current study, 107 participants (Mage = 25.48 years) completed a measure of trait mindfulness, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and two emotion recognition tasks. These tasks required participants to categorize emotions in facial expressions and in speech prosody (modulations of the tone of voice). They also completed an empathy questionnaire and attention tasks. We found that higher trait mindfulness was associated positively with cognitive empathy, but not with the ability to recognize emotions. In fact, Bayesian analyses provided substantial evidence for the null hypothesis, both for emotion recognition in faces and in speech. Moreover, no associations were observed between mindfulness and attention performance. These findings suggest that the positive effects of trait mindfulness on emotional processing do not extend to emotion recognition abilities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

On the applicability of transfer function models for ssi embedment effects

Soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects are typically neglected for relatively lightweight buildings that are less than two-three storeys high with a limited footprint area and resting on shallow foundations (i.e., not featuring a basement). However, when the above conditions are not satisfied, and in particular when large basements are present, important kinematic SSI may develop, causing the foundation-level motion to deviate from the free-field one due to embedment effects. In the literature, transfer function models that estimate the filtering effect induced by rigid massless embedded foundations are available to “transform” foundation-level recordings into free-field ones, and vice-versa. This work describes therefore a numerical study aimed at assessing potential limits of the applicability of such transfer functions through the employment of a 3D nonlinear soil-block model representing a layered soil, recently developed and validated by the authors, and featuring on top a large heavy building with basement. A number of finite element site response analyses were carried out for different seismic input signals, soil profiles and embedment depths of the building’s basement. The numerically obtained transfer functions were compared with the curves derived using two analytical models. It was observed that the latter are able to reliably predict the embedment effects in “idealised” soil/input conditions under which they have been developed. However, in real conditions, namely when a non-homogeneous profile with nonlinear behaviour under a given seismic excitation is considered, especially in presence of a basement that is more than one storey high, they may fail in capturing some features, such as the frequency-dependent amplification of the motion at the basement level of a building with respect to the free-field one

Transdisciplinary in Architecture as a digital change: back to the future

This paper outlines a historic perspective of transdisciplinarity in digital architecture through the work of several key figures (architects, computer scientists, mathematicians, engineers and artists) from the 20th century. Transdisciplinary Digital Architecture deals with digital means and science. The research methodology adopted in this study allows analyzing historic documentation available on the Internet (text, audio, picture, video) to establish the links between them and their relevance to present time digital architecture. This paper aims to describe the first preliminary results of the research to establish a new theory of the digital in architecture based on a body of theoretical foundations that link “first age” transdisciplinarity to Bauhaus teaching methods, and to the early use of computers in architecture.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Multiphasic, multistructured and hierarchical strategies for cartilage regeneration

Cartilage tissue is a complex nonlinear, viscoelastic, anisotropic, and multiphasic material with a very low coefficient of friction, which allows to withstand millions of cycles of joint loading over decades of wear. Upon damage, cartilage tissue has a low self-reparative capacity due to the lack of neural connections, vascularization, and a latent pool of stem/chondroprogenitor cells. Therefore, the healing of articular cartilage defects remains a significant clinical challenge, affecting millions of people worldwide. A plethora of biomaterials have been proposed to fabricate devices for cartilage regeneration, assuming a wide range of forms and structures, such as sponges, hydrogels, capsules, fibers, and microparticles. In common, the fabricated devices were designed taking in consideration that to fully achieve the regeneration of functional cartilage it is mandatory a well-orchestrated interplay of biomechanical properties, unique hierarchical structures, extracellular matrix (ECM), and bioactive factors. In fact, the main challenge in cartilage tissue engineering is to design an engineered device able to mimic the highly organized zonal architecture of articular cartilage, specifically its spatiomechanical properties and ECM composition, while inducing chondrogenesis, either by the proliferation of chondrocytes or by stimulating the chondrogenic differentiation  of stem/chondro-progenitor cells. In this chapter we present the recent advances in the development of innovative and complex biomaterials that fulfill the required structural key elements for cartilage regeneration. In particular, multiphasic, multiscale, multilayered, and hierarchical strategies composed by single or multiple biomaterials combined in a welldefined structure will be addressed. Those strategies include biomimetic scaffolds mimicking the structure of articular cartilage or engineered scaffolds as models of research to fully understand the biological mechanisms that influence the regeneration of cartilage tissue

Multilayered hierarchical capsules providing cell adhesion Sites

Liquified capsules featuring (i) an external shell by layer-by-layer assembly of poly(L-lysine), alginate, and chitosan, and encapsulating (ii) surface functionalized poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) microparticles were developed. We hypothesize that, while the liquifi ed environment enhances the diffusion of essential molecules for cell survival, microparticles dispersed in the liquified core of capsules provide the physical support required for cellular functions of anchorage-dependent cells. The influence of the incorporation of PLL on the regime growth, thickness, and stability was analyzed. Results show a more resistant and thicker film with an exponential build-up growth regime. Moreover, capsules ability to support cell survival was assessed. Capsules containing microparticles revealed an enhanced biological outcome in cell metabolic activity and proliferation, suggesting their potential to boost the development of innovative biomaterial designs for bioencapsulation systems and tissue engineering products.The present work was financial supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Ph.D. Grant with the Reference No. SFRH/BD/69529/2010, cofinanced by the Operational Human Potential Program (POPH), developed under the scope of the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN) from the European Social Fund (FSE). The authors also acknowledge the financial support from the MP-2008-Small-2 project (Find&Bind) developed under the scope of the EU 7th Framework Programme