Contrasting Architectural Philosophies: Andrea Palladio and Adolf Loos Through the Lens of Ornamentation, Aesthetic, and Techniques

Through the eyes of ornamentation, aesthetic, techniques, this research investigates the contrasting architectural philosophies of Andrea Palladio ( 1508 -1580 ) and Adolf Loos ( 1870 - 1933 ) . Even though they were 4 centuries apart they builders represent opposing viewpoints that had a significant impact on how each time period developed. Loos who despised ornamentation at the start of the modernist movement, is known for saying that ornament is crime. Palladio\u27s Italian Renaissance development of Classical ornamentation was in complete contrast to Loos\u27s practical and stern aesthetics. Palladio used elaborate carved elements, columns, and pediments into his designs. Influenced extensively from the architectural style of the ancient Greek and Roman cultures. Stylistically Loos started a new minimalist way which coincided with his Raumplan concept of spatial planning, while Palladio revived and reinterpreted Classical orders and proportions. Loose dropped non-essential elements, preferring to use simple cubic forms and industrial materials like steel and glass. Inversely Palladio\u27s famous villas and churches gave the essence of elegance and refinement with their symmetry, correct proportions, and traditional masonry construction. Although the two architects had a philosophical difference both were admirers of the technological advances that broadened the scope of design. Loos applied construction techniques like reinforced concrete, whereas Palladio used the sophisticated stonecutting and structural methods that produced domes, vaulting and monumental scales that were impossible before ornamentation Loose and Palladio had opposing views. Loos aimed to rid architecture of excessive embellishments in order to place function at the forefront. Palladio on the other hand added decorative elements to achieve a classical feeling of grandeur and beauty. This comparison demonstrates the variety of ambitions that different historical periods have for architecture.This analysis reveals the diverging philosophies of ornamentation, styles, and integration of the contemporary methods as the movements of modernism and Renaissance go through their processes

Bridging the Epochs of Ledoux and Da Vinci

Undergraduate Student: Nancy Sanchez Research Mentor(s): Ehsan Sheikholharam Mashhadi Bridging the Epochs of Ledoux and Da Vinci From two different periods of time, Claude-Nicholas Ledoux and Leonardo Da Vinci have transformed the history of architecture and art. Their work has helped shape the two eras they were a part of. Leonardo Da Vinci was from the 16th century and was coined as the ‘Italian Polymath of the High Renaissance era’, due to his extensive knowledge in engineering, painting, architecture, and science. Claude-Nicolas Ledoux was an 18th century neoclassical architect from France. Ledoux produced architecturally innovative work that influenced social changes in pre-revolutionary France. In particular, his most notable work, Salines de Chaux, helped represent the future of urban design by adopting utopian societies and ideology. This utopian ideology challenged the traditional concept of design and introduced a new standard of thinking in rational architecture. On the other hand, Leonardo da Vinci\u27s extraordinary methods and ways of thinking were reflected in his works of art, such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. His methods of drawing set new standards in forms of artistic expression. His thoughts and methods in science and technology were far ahead for his time, but were highly influential in Da Vinci’s era and in the subsequent modern period. By comparing the works of both Ledoux and Da Vinci, readers will have a better understanding of the significance their works had made in architecture and the artists’ receptive fields

Subclinical mastitis in dairy cows: somatic cell counts and associated bacteria in Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Subclinical mastitis is an economically important disease of dairy cows and has a prominent place amongst the factors that limit milk production. This study was undertaken to determine the association of somatic cell counts (SCC) and occurrence of bacteria with SCM in smallholder dairy cows in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. A total number of 240 quarters milk samples from apparently healthy lactating cows were subjected to SCC using NucleoCounter® SCC-100 ™ (Chemo Metec). A quarter was considered SCM positive if the quarter had SCC>100 x 103 cells/ml. All subclinical mastitis positive quarter milk samples were subjected to bacteriological examination and isolates were classified into major, minor, uncommon and mixed pathogens. The overall quarter-level prevalence of subclinical mastitis of dairy cows in Mymensingh district was 25% (95% CI, 19.52% to 30.48%). The most frequently isolated bacterial species were Staphylococcus aureus (18.33%) followed by coagulase-negative staphylococci (10%), Enterobacter spp. (6.67%), Escherichia coli (5%), Bacillus spp. (5%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5%). Different bacterial isolates were associated with 90% cases of subclinical mastitis as mono infections or mixed infections. Mono and mixed infections significantly influenced SCC and were the most prominent factors responsible for increasing SCC. Mean SCC was the highest for Bacillus spp. (713.67 x 103 cells/ml) followed by Enterobacter spp. (395.75 x 103 cells/ml), Escherichia coli (386.00 x 103 cells/ml), Staphylococcus aureus (373.82 x 103 cells/ml), coagulase-negative staphylococci (182.67 x 103 cells/ml) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (138.67 x 103 cells/ml). Major pathogens induced higher SCC (380.72 x 103cells/ml) than minor and other pathogen groups

Multi-Level Canonical Correlation Analysis for Standard-Dose PET Image Estimation

Positron emission tomography (PET) images are widely used in many clinical applications such as tumor detection and brain disorder diagnosis. To obtain PET images of diagnostic quality, a sufficient amount of radioactive tracer has to be injected into a living body, which will inevitably increase the risk of radiation exposure. On the other hand, if the tracer dose is considerably reduced, the quality of the resulting images would be significantly degraded. It is of great interest to estimate a standard-dose PET (S-PET) image from a low-dose one in order to reduce the risk of radiation exposure and preserve image quality. This may be achieved through mapping both standard-dose and low-dose PET data into a common space and then performing patch based sparse representation. However, a one-size-fits-all common space built from all training patches is unlikely to be optimal for each target S-PET patch, which limits the estimation accuracy. In this paper, we propose a data-driven multi-level Canonical Correlation Analysis (mCCA) scheme to solve this problem. Specifically, a subset of training data that is most useful in estimating a target S-PET patch is identified in each level, and then used in the next level to update common space and improve estimation. Additionally, we also use multi-modal magnetic resonance images to help improve the estimation with complementary information. Validations on phantom and real human brain datasets show that our method effectively estimates S-PET images and well preserves critical clinical quantification measures, such as standard uptake value

Chemical Approaches to Synthetic Drug Delivery Systems for Systemic Applications

Poor water solubility and low bioavailability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are major causes of friction in the pharmaceutical industry and represent a formidable hurdle for pharmaceutical drug development. Drug delivery remains the major challenge for the application of new small-molecule drugs as well as biopharmaceuticals. The three challenges for synthetic delivery systems are: (i) controlling drug distribution and clearance in the blood; (ii) solubilizing poorly water-soluble agents, and (iii) selectively targeting specific tissues. Although several polymer-based systems have addressed the first two demands and have been translated into clinical practice, no targeted synthetic drug delivery system has reached the market. This Review is designed to provide a background on the challenges and requirements for the design and translation of new polymer-based delivery systems. This report will focus on chemical approaches to drug delivery for systemic applications