Design & Engineering of the iconic spherical shell of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, LA

Renzo Piano Building Workshop designed a 290,000 sf museum celebrating the artistry and technology of film, becoming the world’s first museum and event space devoted to the Motion Picture. The 388 Mio USD project consist of a six story tall renovated existing building and a dome-shaped iconic new building housing a 1,000-seat theater. Both buildings are linked by several – partially suspended – bridges. The 150 ft diameter dome is a steel grid shell with cable bracing and flat, shingled glass panels on a secondary layer. The single-layered curved structural steel tubes have a diameter of 4 inches only. With an airy and weightless quality, the globe’s structure seems to dissolve into the background. The construction of the steel glass structure was completed in autumn 2019; grand opening of the museum is planned for summer 2020. Knippers Helbig was responsible for design and engineering of the structure and glazing system of spherical glazed gridshell structure from concept stage until signed and sealed drawings and calculations and was responsible for design and engineering of the bridges during Design Development

Spiking neurons with short-term synaptic plasticity form superior generative networks

Spiking networks that perform probabilistic inference have been proposed both as models of cortical computation and as candidates for solving problems in machine learning. However, the evidence for spike-based computation being in any way superior to non-spiking alternatives remains scarce. We propose that short-term plasticity can provide spiking networks with distinct computational advantages compared to their classical counterparts. In this work, we use networks of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons that are trained to perform both discriminative and generative tasks in their forward and backward information processing paths, respectively. During training, the energy landscape associated with their dynamics becomes highly diverse, with deep attractor basins separated by high barriers. Classical algorithms solve this problem by employing various tempering techniques, which are both computationally demanding and require global state updates. We demonstrate how similar results can be achieved in spiking networks endowed with local short-term synaptic plasticity. Additionally, we discuss how these networks can even outperform tempering-based approaches when the training data is imbalanced. We thereby show how biologically inspired, local, spike-triggered synaptic dynamics based simply on a limited pool of synaptic resources can allow spiking networks to outperform their non-spiking relatives.Comment: corrected typo in abstrac

Synthesis of highly substituted alkenes by sulfur-mediated olefination of N-tosylhydrazones

Tetraphenylethylenes (TPEs) are well-known for their aggregation-induced emission properties. The synthesis of TPE derivatives, as well as other highly substituted olefins, generally requires the use of hazardous reagents, such as metalorganic compounds, to overcome the high activation energies caused by the sterically congested double bond. Herein, we present an efficient and metal-free procedure for the synthesis of tetraarylethylenes via alkylidene-homocoupling of N-tosylhydrazones, derived from readily available benzophenones, in excellent yields. The method relies only on cheap and benign additives, i.e. elemental sulfur and potassium carbonate, and easily competes with other established procedures in terms of scope, yield and practicability. A mechanistic study revealed a diazo compound, a thioketone and a thiirane as key intermediates in the pathway of the reaction. Based on this, a modified method, which allows for selective alkylidene-cross-coupling, generating a broader scope of tri- and tetrasubstituted olefins in good yields, is showcased as well

Flood risk management based on 2D TELEMAC computations: an example with Swiss hazard map

A case study in Switzerland is considered, where hazard/flood maps are established as part of the planning of flood protection measures. Due to the commune’s location within a flat plain divided by a railway dike, it could be shown that the settlements an d infrastructures are much more endangered by floods than originally thought. Using the theme “land cover” of the digital cadastral survey , a digital terrain model (DTM) and bathymetry data, break lines were generated to build a triangular mesh . Culverts, tubes and bridges are a n important element of hazard mapping, as they can alter or create new flow paths not only as common bottlenecks in the channel ( overflow), but also outside in flooded settlement areas where pedestrian/road underpasses and tunnels a re present However, the modelling of culverts and tubes has revealed that they are no longer suitable from a certain size of the channel, as the flow passes by the point which define s the culvert. Thus, several workarounds were tested to improve the relia bility of the culverts/tubes Recorded floods have shown that buildings are not necessarily an impermeable obstacle for the flowing water. An approach was developed to consider buildings as floodable as well as impermeable, as it could be observed that lar ger building complexes may by traversed by floods and alter the flow paths in this way. If these aspects are taken into account, an informative hazard map may be established

Novel Access to Known and Unknown Thiourea Catalyst via a Multicomponent-Reaction Approach

Thioureas are frequently used in organocatalysis and typically rely on 3,5‐bis(trifluoromethyl) phenyl moieties motifs to enhance their catalytic activity. In this work, these common motifs were replaced with tailorable functional groups, such as ester or sulfone aryls, applying elemental sulfur in a multicomponent reaction (MCR) strategy for the first time for thiourea catalyst synthesis. First, several thioureas bearing aryl, benzylic or aliphatic moieties were synthesized and tested for their hydrogen bonding strength by evaluating thiourea phosphine oxide complexes via $^{31}$P NMR and their catalytic activity in an Ugi four‐component reaction (U‐4CR). Finally, ester and sulfone aryl thioureas were tested in the aminolysis of propylene carbonate, leading to conversions similar to those previously reported in the literature using the 3,5‐bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl moiety, proving that these groups are suitable alternatives for the trifluoromethyl group

Removal of Transition-Metal Ions by Metal-Complexing Polythiosemicarbazone Membranes

Membrane technology is one of the many strategies to remove transition-metal ions from aqueous streams because of its relatively lower costs and ease of operation. Typically, adsorbent materials are added into polymeric membranes to impart chelating/complexing properties, but this often results in a limited number of adsorption sites within the membrane. In this work, polythiosemicarbazone (pTSC) is proposed as a material to prepare polymeric membranes due to its metal-complexing ligands in the backbone, providing more adsorption sites. The polymer was easily processed into membranes via the nonsolvent-induced phase separation technique and exhibited asymmetric structures with adequate mechanical strength. The porosity of the membranes was controlled by increasing the polymer concentration in the casting solution, leading to ultrafiltration- and nanofiltration-type membranes with permeabilities ranging from 30 to 0.7 L·m$^{–2}$·h$^{–1}$·bar$^{–1}$. The resulting pTSC membranes were applied for the removal of silver and copper ions in batch and, in the case of silver ions, also in dynamic adsorption experiments. The maximum removal rate of 17 mg·g$^{–1}$ for silver and 3.8 mg·g$^{–1}$ for copper ions was obtained in the batch removal experiment. Streaming potential, pH measurements, and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were conducted to verify the anionic binding of TSC groups, while neutral binding modes were revealed by FTIR and batch removal experiments. Furthermore, the removal of silver ions was also successfully demonstrated in a flow setup operated at 4 bar of applied pressure. The streaming potential and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy conducted on the membranes after the flow tests confirmed the complexation by TSC-functional groups as the separation mechanism. Finally, partial desorption of the silver ions was successfully conducted in water to demonstrate the reusability of pTSC membranes

Targeting αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrins inhibits pulmonary metastasis in an intratibial xenograft osteosarcoma mouse model

Osteosarcoma is an aggressive bone cancer that has a high propensity for metastasis to the lungs. Patients with metastatic disease face a very poor prognosis. Therefore, novel therapeutics, efficiently suppressing the metastatic process, are urgently needed. Integrins play a pivotal role in tumor cell adhesion, motility and metastasis. Here, we evaluated αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrin inhibition with cilengitide as a novel metastasis-suppressive therapeutic approach in osteosarcoma. Immunohistochemical analysis of αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrins expression in a tissue microarray of tumor specimens collected from osteosarcoma patients revealed that αvβ5 integrin is mainly found on tumor cells, whereas αvβ3 is predominantly expressed by stromal cells. In vitro functional assays demonstrated that cilengitide dose-dependently inhibited de novo adhesion, provoked detachment and inhibited migration of osteosarcoma cell lines. Cilengitide induced a decline in cell viability, blocked the cell cycle in the G1 phase and caused anoikis by activation of the Hippo pathway. In a xenograft orthotopic mouse model cilengitide minimally affected intratibial primary tumor growth but, importantly, suppressed pulmonary metastasis. The data demonstrate that targeting αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrins in osteosarcoma should be considered as a novel therapeutic option for patients with metastatic disease

Dual sequence definition increases the data storage capacity of sequence-defined macromolecules

Sequence-defined macromolecules offer applications in the field of data storage. Challenges include synthesising precise and pure sequences, reading stored information and increasing data storage capacity. Herein, the synthesis of dual sequence-defined oligomers and their application for data storage is demonstrated. While applying the well-established Passerini three-component reaction, the degree of definition of the prepared monodisperse macromolecules is improved compared to previous reports by utilising nine specifically designed isocyanide monomers to introduce backbone definition. The monomers are combined with various aldehyde components to synthesise dual-sequence defined oligomers. Thus, the side chains and the backbones of these macromolecules can be varied independently, exhibiting increased molecular diversity and hence data storage capacity per repeat unit. In case of a dual sequence-defined pentamer, 33 bits are achieved in a single molecule. The oligomers are obtained in multigram scale and excellent purity. Sequential read-out by tandem ESI-MS/MS verifies the high data storage capacity of the prepared oligomers per repeat unit in comparison to other sequence defined macromolecules