Walking Along, Wandering Off and Going Astray A Critical Normativity Approach to Walking as a Situated Architectural Experience

There is a lack of attention toward the diversity in experiences of architecture that are expressed through walking. Through the application of autoethnography and critical perspectives of queer and feminist theory, this dissertation develops a method for investigating experiences of architecture in regard to the activity of walking. In addition, this thesis addresses the influence of form, materiality, and social aspects on walk conditions, thus providing architectural perspectives on design and planning that aim to address a heterogeneity among people who walk or are involved in walk matters in their everyday life. The result is an investigatory framework—critical normativity—that consists of three components: observations through a walk diary, the walk technique going astray, and the theoretical application of a critical terminology. These components work to address and situate experiences of spatiality and materiality and their impact on our walk experiences. The walk diary is a data collecting technique that stresses subjectivity of experiences, going astray is an approach that should encourage associations and openness in attitude in the investigatory phase, and the critical terminology is a theoretical framework addressing normativity and thereby positioning the interpretations of the empirical material. The applied main concepts of the critical terminology are: dis-/orientation, background/foreground, performativity, differences, situated knowledges and partial perspective, all of which are derived from queer and feminist theory. The dissertation shows that the researchers, eventually also designers and planners, will benefit from actively engaging themselves in the world of walking by reflecting and incorporating their own walk experiences into their methods and work, in order to develop empathy with the research topic, as well as critically situating their own knowledge perspectives. This way—i.e. by applying a critical normativity—the formation of walk related identities will inevitably activate: questions of e.g. desires; power to act; identity formation; subjectivity and temporality in regard to the experiences of space and materiality. In the application of the investigatory framework—critical normativity—the impact and dynamics of time, in regard to variation in action possibilities, are also addressed. This points to the fact that, in order to include a range of walk needs and behaviors, perception of difference—in particular difference that has not been pre-defined—in itself should be addressed, along with further development of performativity perspectives and identity formation as important constituents of walk conditions

The park of the involuntary tourist

This diploma work is about the situation of refugees in a world of conflicts, borders and tourists, designed as a critical counterpoint to the competition ?Venice Lagoon Park?organized by the magazine 2G, autumn 2007. I have transformed the competition's program idea of giving tourists and visitors information, into a space for educating the public about refugees and their reality. The site is the same as in the competition brief; Sacca San Mattia, Venice, Italy

Pores in Bilayer Membranes of Amphiphilic Molecules: Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Simulations Compared with Simple Mesoscopic Models

We investigate pores in fluid membranes by molecular dynamics simulations of an amphiphile-solvent mixture, using a molecular coarse-grained model. The amphiphilic membranes self-assemble into a lamellar stack of amphiphilic bilayers separated by solvent layers. We focus on the particular case of tension less membranes, in which pores spontaneously appear because of thermal fluctuations. Their spatial distribution is similar to that of a random set of repulsive hard discs. The size and shape distribution of individual pores can be described satisfactorily by a simple mesoscopic model, which accounts only for a pore independent core energy and a line tension penalty at the pore edges. In particular, the pores are not circular: their shapes are fractal and have the same characteristics as those of two dimensional ring polymers. Finally, we study the size-fluctuation dynamics of the pores, and compare the time evolution of their contour length to a random walk in a linear potential

Francisella tularensis subsp. novicida isolated from a human in Arizona

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Francisella tularensis </it>is the etiologic agent of tularemia and is classified as a select agent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Currently four known subspecies of <it>F. tularensis </it>that differ in virulence and geographical distribution are recognized:<it>tularensis </it>(type A), <it>holarctica </it>(type B), <it>mediasiatica</it>, and <it>novicida</it>. Because of the Select Agent status and differences in virulence and geographical location, the molecular analysis of any clinical case of tularemia is of particular interest. We analyzed an unusual <it>Francisella </it>clinical isolate from a human infection in Arizona using multiple DNA-based approaches.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>We report that the isolate is <it>F. tularensis </it>subsp. <it>novicida</it>, a subspecies that is rarely isolated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The rarity of this <it>novicida </it>subspecies in clinical settings makes each case study important for our understanding of its role in disease and its genetic relationship with other <it>F. tularensis </it>subspecies.</p

Active Membrane Fluctuations Studied by Micropipet Aspiration

We present a detailed analysis of the micropipet experiments recently reported in J-B. Manneville et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4356--4359 (1999), including a derivation of the expected behaviour of the membrane tension as a function of the areal strain in the case of an active membrane, i.e., containing a nonequilibrium noise source. We give a general expression, which takes into account the effect of active centers both directly on the membrane, and on the embedding fluid dynamics, keeping track of the coupling between the density of active centers and the membrane curvature. The data of the micropipet experiments are well reproduced by the new expressions. In particular, we show that a natural choice of the parameters quantifying the strength of the active noise explains both the large amplitude of the observed effects and its remarkable insensitivity to the active-center density in the investigated range. [Submitted to Phys Rev E, 22 March 2001]Comment: 14 pages, 5 encapsulated Postscript figure

Cell Nucleus-Targeting Zwitterionic Carbon Dots

An innovative nucleus-targeting zwitterionic carbon dot (CD) vehicle has been developed for anticancer drug delivery and optical monitoring. The zwitterionic functional groups of the CDs introduced by a simple one-step synthesis using beta-alanine as a passivating and zwitterionic ligand allow cytoplasmic uptake and subsequent nuclear translocation of the CDs. Moreover, multicolor fluorescence improves the accuracy of the CDs as an optical code. The CD-based drug delivery system constructed by non-covalent grafting of doxorubicin, exhibits superior antitumor efficacy owing to enhanced nuclear delivery in vitro and tumor accumulation in vivo, resulting in highly effective tumor growth inhibition. Since the zwitterionic CDs are highly biocompatible and effectively translocated into the nucleus, it provides a compelling solution to a multifunctional nanoparticle for substantially enhanced nuclear uptake of drugs and optical monitoring of translocation.open

Development and use of iron oxide nanoparticles (Part 1): Synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles for MRI

Contrast agents, such as iron oxide, enhance MR images by altering the relaxation times of tissues in which the agent is present. They can also be used to label targeted molecular imaging probes. Unfortunately, no molecular imaging probe is currently available on the clinical MRI market. A promising platform for MRI contrast agent development is nanotechnology, where superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONS) are tailored for MR contrast enhancement, and/or for molecular imaging. SPIONs can be produced using a range of methods and the choice of method will be influenced by the characteristics most important for a particular application. In addition, the ability to attach molecular markers to SPIONS heralds their application in molecular imaging

The first case of Brucella canis in Sweden: background, case report and recommendations from a northern European perspective

Infection with Brucella canis has been diagnosed in Sweden for the first time. It was diagnosed in a three-year-old breeding bitch with reproductive disturbances. Fifteen in-contact dogs were tested repeatedly and all of them were negative for B. canis. The source of infection could not be defined. The present article describes the case and the measures undertaken and gives a short review over B. canis. Recommendations on how to avoid the infection in non-endemic countries are given