PARAMETRICAL ANALYSIS AND DIGITAL FABRICATION OF THIN SHELL STRUCTURES: THE IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE ON THE RESULTING GEOMETRY OF THE GAUSSIAN VAULTS OF ELADIO DIESTE

Abstract. The objective of this article is to analyze the state-of-art regarding the construction process of the Gaussian Vaults of the Uruguayan civil engineer Eladio Dieste and to identify the elements that underlie the relationship between the constructive techniques and procedures within this specific structural typology and its resulting geometry. As complementary objectives, this research aims for the identification of the gaps in the registry of such constructive procedures. The essay focuses on the geometry of the Gaussian Vaults designed and built by Dieste, in a way that these rigid structural surfaces' geometry had their original construction drawings redrawn and analyzed from the perspective of its construction technique by means of the Parametrical Modelling and Digital Fabrication of case studies.</p

INVESTIGATIONS ON THE DESIGN PROCESS OF ELADIO DIESTE: 3D PARAMETRIC MODELLING OF MODERN LATIN AMERICAN ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract. The Uruguayan Engineer Eladio Dieste underwent a quest for thinness in the field of structural design which rendered his reinforced masonry thin-shell structures at a conspicuous position in Modern Latin American Architectural Heritage, so much so as to have Dieste's work in Latin America and Europe included in an indicative list for UNESCO's cultural heritage sites as of 2010. Nonetheless, the design process that led Dieste to such innovative structural typologies is yet to be fully academically explored. Thus, the objective of this paper is to examine the state-of-art regarding the intricate design process of Eladio Dieste's gaussian vaults and shed some light on the existing gaps within this process by means of the 3D parametric modelling and digital fabrication of selected case studies. The adoption methodological procedures such as 3D parametrical modelling and digital fabrication allows for the establishment of important relationships between the design process and the resulting geometry of Eladio Dieste's designs, as well as furthering registry of Dieste's legacy for conservation purposes.</p

Flashing annihilation term of a logistic kinetic as a mechanism leading to Pareto distributions

It is shown analytically that the flashing annihilation term of a Verhulst kinetic leads to the power--law distribution in the stationary state. For the frequency of switching slower than twice the free growth rate this provides the quasideterministic source of a Levy noises at the macroscopic level.Comment: 1 fi

Seasonal and Feeding System Effects on Qualitative Parameters of Bovine Milk Produced in the Abruzzo Region (Italy)

The aim of this study was to examine variations in cow milk composition as a function of breeding system and seasonality. This study was carried out in 16 dairy farms located in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy), equally distributed between farms that adopt grazing in the spring and summer months, and farms where the intensive system is exploited. Milk was sampled in all seasons in each of the farms involved and was analyzed with particular attention given to the quality of the lipid and protein fractions. A lower concentration of saturated fatty acids and an increase in rumenic, vaccenic and oleic acids were registered for milk samples coming from outdoor grazing, in which was also observed the greatest presence of and caseins. The opposite result was instead observed for casein, which showed the highest values from intensive farming. Evaluations also focused on retinol, which significantly increased in concentration during summer in both breeding systems. The present results suggest positive insights into the role of the outdoor breeding system in improving the main qualitative trait of bovine milk in warm seasons

An in situ assessment of local adaptation in a calcifying polychaete from a shallow CO 2 vent system

Ocean acidification (OA) is likely to exert selective pressure on natural populations. Our ability to predict which marine species will adapt to OA and what underlies this adaptive potential is of high conservation and resource management priority. Using a naturally low-pH vent site in the Mediterranean Sea (Castello Aragonese, Ischia) mirroring projected future OA conditions, we carried out a reciprocal transplant experiment to investigate the relative importance of phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation in two populations of the sessile, calcifying polychaete Simplaria sp. (Annelida, Serpulidae, Spirorbinae): one residing in low pH and the other from a nearby ambient (i.e. high) pH site. We measured a suite of fitness-related traits (i.e. survival, reproductive output, maturation, population growth) and tube growth rates in laboratory-bred F2 generation individuals from both populations reciprocally transplanted back into both ambient and low-pH in situ habitats. Both populations showed lower expression in all traits, but increased tube growth rates, when exposed to low-pH compared with high-pH conditions, regardless of their site of origin suggesting that local adaptation to low-pH conditions has not occurred. We also found comparable levels of plasticity in the two populations investigated, suggesting no influence of long-term exposure to low pH on the ability of populations to adjust their phenotype. Despite high variation in trait values among sites and the relatively extreme conditions at the low pH site (pH < 7.36), response trends were consistent across traits. Hence, our data suggest that, for Simplaria and possibly other calcifiers, neither local adaptations nor sufficient phenotypic plasticity levels appear to suffice in order to compensate for the negative impacts of OA on long-term survival. Our work also emphasizes the utility of field experiments in natural environments subjected to high level of pCO2 for elucidating the potential for adaptation to future scenarios of OA

Adverse Childhood Life Events and Postpartum Mood Episodes in Bipolar Disorder

Background: The early postpartum has been established as a period of increased vulnerability for psychiatric mood illness. Women with bipolar disorder (BD) in particular are at elevated risk of postnatal depression (PND) and of postpartum psychosis (PP). Though adverse childhood life events (ACLEs) have been implicated in the aetiology of PND, this has rarely been studied in relation to PP. Furthermore, despite being at high risk of relapse following childbirth, little research has assessed the relationship between ACLEs and postnatal mood episodes (PNEs) exclusively in women with BD. Therefore, our aim was to explore associations between ACLEs and occurrence of both PND and PP in a large sample of women with BD. Methods: Participants were 665 parous women with BD who had been recruited into the Bipolar Disorder Research Network study. Diagnoses and lifetime psychopathology were obtained via a semi-structured interview (SCAN). Postnatal psychiatric history and experience of 7 ACLEs were also assessed. Where available, all information obtained at interview was confirmed from psychiatric case notes. Women were classified into three groups according to postnatal psychiatric history: 1) those who had experienced no postnatal mood episode (no PNE, n=224), 2) women with a history of PND (n=223) and 3) women who had experienced PP (n=208). A Pearson’s chi-square test was used to compare the prevalence of each type of ACLE between women in the no PNE group and those with a history of PND or PP. Results: Women with PND were significantly more likely to have experienced emotional, sexual or physical abuse in childhood compared with women who had no history of a PNE (p<0.05). In particular, childhood sexual abuse was reported significantly more in the PND than the no PNE group (P<0.05). In contrast, there were no significant differences in the frequency of reporting of any ACLEs between women who had no PNE and those with PP. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that childhood abuse, sexual abuse in particular, is associated with PND among women with BD. In contrast, we found no evidence for an association between any ACLE and PP, suggesting that biological factors are likely to play a more important role in the aetiology of psychosis in the early postpartum

THE ARCHITECTURAL GEOMETRY OF THE CHURCH OF CRISTO OBRERO Y NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LOURDES

The object of study of this paper is the Church of Cristo Obrero y Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, in the city of Atlántida, Uruguay, designed and built by Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste between 1956 and 1960, and proclaimed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. Furthermore, the object of study is the outset of Eladio Dieste’s experimentations with reinforced brickwork, which resulted in innovative thin-shell structural typologies. Hence, the objective of this article is to verify the geometrical relationships within the continuous gaussian vaults of the Cristo Obrero’ roof and the ruled surfaces of its lateral walls. The proposed methodological procedures for this research were the in situ visitation of the object of study, followed by the consultation of original construction drawings, as well as the exploratory parametric modeling and polynomial regression of the architectural geometry of the Church of Cristo Obrero. Amongst the expected contributions for this research reside the dissemination of Latin-American modern architectural heritage sites within European academic journals, digital design technologies within Latin-American research centres, as well as the fostering of the comprehension of the design and construction process of the Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste

Ovatoxin-a, a palytoxin analogue isolated from Ostreopsis cf. ovata Fukuyo: cytotoxic activity and ELISA detection

This study provides the first evaluation of the cytotoxic effects of the recently identified palytoxin (PLTX) analog, ovatoxin-a (OVTX-a), the major toxin produced by Ostreopsis cf. ovata in the Mediterranean Sea. Its increasing detection during Ostreopsis blooms and in seafood highlights the need to characterize its toxic effects and to set up appropriate detection methods. OVTX-a is about 100 fold less potent than PLTX in reducing HaCaT cells viability (EC50 = 1.1 7 10 129 M vs 1.8 7 10 1211 M, MTT test) in agreement with a reduced binding affinity (Kd = 1.2 7 10 129 vs 2.7 7 10 1211 M, saturation experiments on intact cells). Similarly, OVTX-a hemolytic effect is lower than that of the reference PLTX compound. Ost-D shows the lowest cytotoxicity toward HaCaT keratinocytes, suggesting the lack of a hydroxyl group at C44 as a critical feature for PLTXs cytotoxic effects. A sandwich ELISA developed for PLTX detects also OVTX-a in a sensitive (LOD = 4.2 and LOQ = 5.6 ng/mL) and accurate manner (Bias = 0.3%), also in O. cf. ovata extracts and contaminated mussels. Although in vitro OVTXa appears less toxic than PLTX, its cytotoxicity at nanomolar concentrations after short exposure time rises some concern for human health. The sandwich ELISA can be a viable screening method for OVTXs detection in monitoring program

Robustness of optimal working points for non-adiabatic holonomic quantum computation

Geometric phases are an interesting resource for quantum computation, also in view of their robustness against decoherence effects. We study here the effects of the environment on a class of one-qubit holonomic gates that have been recently shown to be characterized by "optimal" working times. We numerically analyze the behavior of these optimal points and focus on their robustness against noise.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure