Performing Openness Episodes of Walking Urban Narratives

This paper examines the role of narrative in the briefing and performing of the actions held by the international network Urban Emptiness. The network proposes an interdisciplinary investigation of emptiness and silence through workshops in different contemporary cities. Narrative is examined here as the protagonist of performative explorations of different layers of the urban fabric that might even be hidden or unnoticed. Focus is on two groups of events held in Edinburgh and Athens. Organically interconnected these two clusters of actions explored narrative in briefing process (using performative, deconstructing and montage methodologies), performance (walking itineraries, oral history, site/process specific designed sketchbooks), documentation and communication. Of particular interest was the investigation of ‘narrative threads’ between the different episodes by introducing thread-workshops which were shifting the focus and re-framing the actions. Working with modes of narrative involves observations about the way we live and act, but also about the way we communicate our experiences. These narrative experimentations suggest a playful take on how we introduce diverse points of view and explore new ways of expression in a fusion of horizons that is never considered as a closed and totally complete model. Inner and outwards landscapes, real and imaginary elements, tangible and intangible qualities were re-situated in the examined performative fields through the agency of the participants’ bodies and the dynamics of a plot that aimed to remain open. Allowing for new episodes to be incorporated and interruptions to happen in its course this process unearthed the existence of an evolving and organic urban narrative that is always open to incorporate new episodes

Place experience of the sacred : liminality, pilgrimage and the topography of Mount Athos

This thesis explores the embodied topography of Mount Athos, emphasizing the conditions of liminality – the nature of different kinds of boundaries and intermediate zones within it. Mount Athos is a valuable case study of sacred topography, as it is one of the largest monastic communities and an important pilgrimage destination. Its phenomenological examination in this study highlights the importance of embodiment in the experience of religious places advocating also for a deeper understanding of the boundaries in it. The thesis seeks to convey a more primary insight into the phenomena found there, examining also how ritual and pre-reflective embodied movements explore the topography in a meaningful way. Combining elements of different disciplines (philosophy, theology, anthropology, and architectural history and theory) with primary sources from archives and fieldwork, the thesis constitutes an original contribution to both Athonian studies and sacred topography scholarship. By focusing on the spatial, temporal and aural boundaries and intermediate zones as perceptual phenomena of an embodied topography, it suggests an alternative to the usual art-historical, objectifying examination of the case study. Liminality refers to the intermediate zones between two or more components of a sacred place. It allows the reciprocal communication between them, carrying the character of both departure and return. In using liminality as a focus of investigation, the thesis provides a new understanding of the way religious places are interconnected through cyclical rituals, the strangers’ travel and silent meditation. Following the archetype of the journey, these movements are also studied according to their particular power to “map” places in a more primary way than the modern cartographic method. Starting from the periphery of Athos, the study presents a variety of in-between zones, the passage through which contributes to the sensual realization of a multi-layered meaningful topography. Annual pilgrimages to the peak of the mountain, silent meditation in isolated caves, wandering asceticism and walking along the footpaths provide different ways to narrate the natural landscape of the peninsula. Moreover, ritual choreographies being inscribed in the courtyard and church of a coenobitic monastery, meals and death services ritually perform the place. Through their investigation, this study illuminates important aspects of the topography, such as its multi-sensual aural environment in which silence plays a key role. The analysis concludes that the different liminal zones of Mount Athos are always undergoing a condition of penetration, alteration, and even violation, allowing the integrity of the topography to be enacted

Design and Modeling of a Novel Torque Vectoring Differential System

In this paper, a new concept torque vectoring differential (TVD) system is presented. It is shown that the structure and the mechanism of the system, the operating methods, and the parameters design by a simulation program, i.e. SimulationX. First of all, the structure of the new TVD system is introduced, as well as the relevant mechanic equations. Second, we attempt to verify the feasibility and accuracy of SimulationX through establishing a simple mechanical model by MATLAB, so that the further modeling and simulation results of the new TVD system will be credible. Then, the simulation results at the setting conditions are presented. Finally, the sensitivity of the design parameters is analyzed, including adjusting the braking torque and the dimensions of the gear sets in the differential. According to these results, the characteristics of the new TVD system can be derived in order to develop the whole system with vehicle dynamic model in the next stage

Aggregatibacter Actinomycetemcomitans Leukotoxin Cytotoxicity Occurs Through Bilayer Destabilization

The Gram-negative bacterium, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, is a common inhabitant of the human upper aerodigestive tract. The organism produces an RTX (Repeats in ToXin) toxin (LtxA) that kills human white blood cells. LtxA is believed to be a membrane-damaging toxin, but details of the cell surface interaction for this and several other RTX toxins have yet to be elucidated. Initial morphological studies suggested that LtxA was bending the target cell membrane. Because the ability of a membrane to bend is a function of its lipid composition, we assessed the proficiency of LtxA to release of a fluorescent dye from a panel of liposomes composed of various lipids. Liposomes composed of lipids that form nonlamellar phases were susceptible to LtxA-induced damage while liposomes composed of lipids that do not form non-bilayer structures were not. Differential scanning calorimetry demonstrated that the toxin decreased the temperature at which the lipid transitions from a bilayer to a nonlamellar phase, while 31P nuclear magnetic resonance studies showed that the LtxA-induced transition from a bilayer to an inverted hexagonal phase occurs through the formation of an isotropic intermediate phase. These results indicate that LtxA cytotoxicity occurs through a process of membrane destabilization. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Evaluation of a Desktop 3D Printed Rigid Refractive-Indexed-Matched Flow Phantom for PIV Measurements on Cerebral Aneurysms

Purpose Fabrication of a suitable flow model or phantom is critical to the study of biomedical fluid dynamics using optical flow visualization and measurement methods. The main difficulties arise from the optical properties of the model material, accuracy of the geometry and ease of fabrication. Methods Conventionally an investment casting method has been used, but recently advancements in additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing have allowed the flow model to be printed directly with minimal post-processing steps. This study presents results of an investigation into the feasibility of fabrication of such models suitable for particle image velocimetry (PIV) using a common 3D printing Stereolithography process and photopolymer resin. Results An idealised geometry of a cerebral aneurysm was printed to demonstrate its applicability for PIV experimentation. The material was shown to have a refractive index of 1.51, which can be refractive matched with a mixture of de-ionised water with ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN). The images were of a quality that after applying common PIV pre-processing techniques and a PIV cross-correlation algorithm, the results produced were consistent within the aneurysm when compared to previous studies. Conclusions This study presents an alternative low-cost option for 3D printing of a flow phantom suitable for flow visualization simulations. The use of 3D printed flow phantoms reduces the complexity, time and effort required compared to conventional investment casting methods by removing the necessity of a multi-part process required with investment casting techniques

Negative updating applied to the best-of-n problem with noisy qualities

The ability to perform well in the presence of noise is an important consideration when evaluating the effectiveness of a collective decision-making framework. Any system deployed for real-world applications will have to perform well in complex and uncertain environments, and a component of this is the limited reliability and accuracy of evidence sources. In particular, in swarm robotics there is an emphasis on small and inexpensive robots which are often equipped with low-cost sensors more prone to suffer from noisy readings. This paper presents an exploratory investigation into the robustness of a negative updating approach to the best-of-n problem which utilises negative feedback from direct pairwise comparison of options and opinion pooling. A site selection task is conducted with a small-scale swarm of five e-puck robots choosing between n= 7 options in a semi-virtual environment with varying levels of sensor noise. Simulation experiments are then used to investigate the scalability of the approach. We now vary the swarm size and observe the behaviour as the number of options n increases for different error levels with different pooling regimes. Preliminary results suggest that the approach is robust to noise in the form of noisy sensor readings for even small populations by supporting self-correction within the population

Thrombosis in Cerebral Aneurysms and the Computational Modeling Thereof: A Review

Thrombosis is a condition closely related to cerebral aneurysms and controlled thrombosis is the main purpose of endovascular embolization treatment. The mechanisms governing thrombus initiation and evolution in cerebral aneurysms have not been fully elucidated and this presents challenges for interventional planning. Significant effort has been directed towards developing computational methods aimed at streamlining the interventional planning process for unruptured cerebral aneurysm treatment. Included in these methods are computational models of thrombus development following endovascular device placement. The main challenge with developing computational models for thrombosis in disease cases is that there exists a wide body of literature that addresses various aspects of the clotting process, but it may not be obvious what information is of direct consequence for what modeling purpose (e.g., for understanding the effect of endovascular therapies). The aim of this review is to present the information so it will be of benefit to the community attempting to model cerebral aneurysm thrombosis for interventional planning purposes, in a simplified yet appropriate manner. The paper begins by explaining current understanding of physiological coagulation and highlights the documented distinctions between the physiological process and cerebral aneurysm thrombosis. Clinical observations of thrombosis following endovascular device placement are then presented. This is followed by a section detailing the demands placed on computational models developed for interventional planning. Finally, existing computational models of thrombosis are presented. This last section begins with description and discussion of physiological computational clotting models, as they are of immense value in understanding how to construct a general computational model of clotting. This is then followed by a review of computational models of clotting in cerebral aneurysms, specifically. Even though some progress has been made towards computational predictions of thrombosis following device placement in cerebral aneurysms, many gaps still remain. Answering the key questions will require the combined efforts of the clinical, experimental and computational communities