Responsive architecture

This research interest surrounds the ways that buildings and, in particular, façades could be dynamic and physically articulated to respond to changes in synoptic weather conditions across seasons. A practical demonstration of this approach was the Deployable External Insulation (DEI) developed at the Bartlett, and realised with a full-size pavilion in 2008, using the Bartlett’s manufacturing workshop. This showed how a kinetic façade with movable shutters could be operated by passive thermo-hydraulic actuators. These actuators exploit the liquid-to-solid transitions of Phase-Change Materials (PCMs) such as paraffin waxes, when they absorb sufficient thermal energy above ambient they expand to generate a large hydrostatic force; a property that can be used to directly move building elements

In Search of a Dialogue for Manufacturing Conformance: When Precise Geometry is Paradoxically Imprecise Design Intent

An article advocating in favour of introducing the Geometrical Product Specification (GPS) framework to pre-fabrication, pre-assembly and installation sections of the construction industry where designers, makers and inspectors can have clear and unambiguous terms of reference and rules of interpretation with which to discuss and negotiate in a dialogue between functional requirements and design specifications that can be modelled, manufactured and measured for conformance

Effect of Field Direction on Electrowetting in a Nanopore

We manifest a significant influence of field direction and polarity on surface wetting, when the latter is tuned by application of an external electric field. Thermodynamics of field-induced filling of hydrocarbon-like nanopores with water is studied by open ensemble molecular simulation. Increased field strength consistently results in water-filling and electrostriction in hydrophobic nanopores. A threshold field commensurate with surface charge density of about one elementary charge per 10 nm2 suffices to render prototypical paraffin surfaces hydrophilic. When a field is applied in the direction perpendicular to the confining walls, the competition between orientational polarization and angle preferences of interfacial water molecules relative to the walls results in an asymmetric wettability of opposing surfaces (Janus interface). Reduction of surface free energy observed upon alignment of confinement walls with field direction suggests a novel mechanism whereby the applied electric field can operate selectively on water-filled nanotubes while empty ones remain unaffected

Educational duties of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions: past, present and future

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Life Cycle Assessment of Stone Paper, Polypropylene Film, and Coated Paper for Use as Product Labels

Environmental concerns are growing in today’s societies, and governments, companies, and other organizations are looking to decrease the impacts on the environment from their products and the products they source. In order to do this, they need to know how a product is impacting the environment, and a life cycle assessment can help to understand the impacts of products and identify areas for potential environmental improvement. This life cycle assessment analyzed the life cycle of three materials: coated paper, PP film, and Stone Paper, in the function of a product label. The aim was to perform comparative analysis of the materials by evaluating performance on multiple impact categories. From this analysis, information can be provided to decision makers and preliminary recommendations can be made to improve the life cycle of Stone Paper. The results found that no material clearly dominated the other materials across all impact categories, but some general trends were identified. PP Film performed relatively poorly in fossil fuel related impact categories, whereas coated paper performed relatively poorly in land use and water depletion categories. Stone Paper fared relatively poorly in two human and environmental health impact categories. Strong general conclusions about the other impact categories cannot be made. Sensitivity analysis for transportation and end of life scenarios were carried out, and found a preference for short transportation distances for Stone Paper, landfilling for coated paper, and incineration for PP film were found.Master of ScienceNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117675/1/Life Cycle Assessment of Stone Paper- DO_NOT_UPLOAD_YET.pd

WiSARD: A Labeled Visual and Thermal Image Dataset for Wilderness Search and Rescue

Sensor-equipped unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) have the potential to help reduce search times and alleviate safety risks for first responders carrying out Wilderness Search and Rescue (WiSAR) operations, the process of finding and rescuing person(s) lost in wilderness areas. Unfortunately, visual sensors alone do not address the need for robustness across all the possible terrains, weather, and lighting conditions that WiSAR operations can be conducted in. The use of multi-modal sensors, specifically visual-thermal cameras, is critical in enabling WiSAR UAVs to perform in diverse operating conditions. However, due to the unique challenges posed by the wilderness context, existing dataset benchmarks are inadequate for developing vision-based algorithms for autonomous WiSAR UAVs. To this end, we present WiSARD, a dataset with roughly 56,000 labeled visual and thermal images collected from UAV flights in various terrains, seasons, weather, and lighting conditions. To the best of our knowledge, WiSARD is the first large-scale dataset collected with multi-modal sensors for autonomous WiSAR operations. We envision that our dataset will provide researchers with a diverse and challenging benchmark that can test the robustness of their algorithms when applied to real-world (life-saving) applications

Ebola virus VP30 and nucleoprotein interactions modulate viral RNA synthesis

AbstractEbola virus (EBOV) is an enveloped negative-sense RNA virus that causes sporadic outbreaks with high case fatality rates. Ebola viral protein 30 (eVP30) plays a critical role in EBOV transcription initiation at the nucleoprotein (eNP) gene, with additional roles in the replication cycle such as viral assembly. However, the mechanistic basis for how eVP30 functions during the virus replication cycle is currently unclear. Here we define a key interaction between eVP30 and a peptide derived from eNP that is important to facilitate interactions leading to the recognition of the RNA template. We present crystal structures of the eVP30 C-terminus in complex with this eNP peptide. Functional analyses of the eVP30–eNP interface identify residues that are critical for viral RNA synthesis. Altogether, these results support a model where the eVP30–eNP interaction plays a critical role in transcription initiation and provides a novel target for the development of antiviral therapy.</jats:p