Optical properties of surface plasmon polaritons and semiconductor based quantum system

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Transformability in Post-Earthquake Houses in Iran: with Special Focus on Lar City

Earthquake is considered as one of the most catastrophic disasters in Iran, in terms of both short-term and longterm hazards. Due to the particular financial and time constraints in Iran, quickly constructed post-earthquake houses (PEHs) do not fulfill the minimum requirements to be considered as comfortable dwellings for people. Consequently, people often transform PEHs after they start to reside. However, lack of understanding about process, motivation, and results of housing transformation leads to construction of some houses not suitable for future transformations, hence resulting in eventually demolished or abandoned PEHs. This study investigated housing transformations in a natural bed of postearthquake Lar. This paper reports results of the conducted survey for comparing normal condition housing transformation with postearthquake housing transformation in order to reveal the factors that affect post-earthquake housing transformation in Iran. The findings proposed the use of a combination of ‘Temporary’ and ‘Permanent’ housing reconstruction models in Iran to provide victims with basic but permanent post-disaster dwellings. It is also suggested that needs for future transformation should be predicted and addressed during early stages of design and development. This study contributes to both research and practice regarding post-earthquake housing reconstruction in Iran by proposing new design approaches and guidelines

Transformation of earthquake disaster victims' shelter into sustainable home: the case of Lar City, Iran

Earthquake damages are immeasurable. To cope with losses, especially when it involves thousands of victims is not easy. Often, the survivors need immediate shelter and counselling especially when the lost involved homes and their love ones. This paper discusses transformation of temporary shelters for earthquake victims into a more sustainable home, using the case of Lar city in Iran. The paper cantered on the issue of mismatch of the design of the shelter with occupants’ socio-cultural needs that resulted dissatisfaction among occupants leading to various transformation designs and chaotic facades. The study documents transformation of 365 immediate shelters into what the owners finally called homes over a period of more than 40 years. Methodology involves document analysis of maps and records during the occupancy period, observation, questionnaire survey and interviews. This paper concludes that majority of transformations were into traditional architectural design. This paper suggests that to improve residents’ satisfaction for future development for housing for disaster victims, consideration of socio-culture of local and user needs should be given priority to avoid dissatisfaction and further house transformation cos

Architectural changes and motivational factors for post-earthquake house transformation in Lar City, Iran

Housing provision for post-earthquake victims requires consideration of the victims' cultural and social needs. Due to limited time and shortage of funds, quick construction of post-earthquake houses often fails to comply with the minimum needs of the occupants. Too often, such houses are either abandoned or transformed substantially, resulting in an overwhelming waste of resources. This paper aimed to investigate the transformation process of post-earthquake houses in Iran, in particular, people's motivational factors for these transformations. The methods used included systematic observations and map analysis of alterations to post-earthquake houses over a 30-year period (1970-2000), interviews with the households and questionnaire survey with 190 respondents. The results recommended that the design for these houses should address potential for transformability into preearthquake patterns and lifestyles, adaptability to new parts/construction and capability to reflect different requirements for indoor and outdoor spatial circulations. Analysis of house transformation in the 30-year period revealed that the majority of respondents were found to favour vernacular architecture design, which includes a courtyard in transforming their houses (51.1%) followed by the desire to follow the current trend (32%). The majority of houses had undergone major transformation, having added more than 98% of the original built-up area to the houses. This research found that the mixed 'Temporary- Permanent' housing reconstruction model was highly successful since it involved participation of end users from the very early stages of design and development in order to predict and accommodate later housing alteration issues.</p

Identity in Residential Architecture from the Viewpoint of Semiology (Qajar Period Houses and Contemporary Residential Complexes in Shiraz)

The deficiency of Iranian contemporary housing architecture has made this method of Architecture unable to meet the needs of Iranian families in recent years. Architecture is part of the identity of a society and has concepts and features derived from the community of its time. Therefore, in order to provide a correct solution for the modification of the Iranian contemporary housing architecture and to create its identity, it is necessary to recognize and analyze the signs existing in Iranian architecture throughout history. In this study, the architecture of the traditional Qajar era houses and contemporary residential complexes in Shiraz, with a semiotic approach, were analyzed in two layers of architecture and meta-architecture. The results of semiotics mechanism, questionnaires and interviews showed that the lack of attention to different layers of the signifieds and conformity of the signifier and the signified is the missing link of identity in the contemporary architecture of residential complexes. Also, it seems that the application of Qajar architectural signs to contemporary housing architecture can create identity in modern housing

Transformability in post-earthquake houses:towards a more sustainable design approach in Iran

Earthquake is one of the most calamitous disasters in Iran. The hazards of earthquake are always catastrophic not only during the disaster time but also for a long time after the disaster. Since Iran has particular financial and time constraints, hurriedly made post-earthquake emergence shelters often fail in complying with the minimum needs of the occupants. Thereby, such shelters have always been either abandoned or transformed substantially. Since the initial designs are not thoroughly tailored as to address the future's transformational needs, such transformations need comprehensive replacements in terms of structure and construction. Regardless of the other issues that could be brought by these redundant works, they are always associated with an overwhelming waste of resources. In other words, the carbon-footprint of the buildings is often increased significantly only due to not so informed initial decisions by the designers. This study explored the difficulties of the post-disaster housing transformations in Lar city, Iran as a real-life case of study. This paper reports the needs and difficulties of people for transforming their post-earthquake houses. Due to the particular economic and socio-cultural conditions of Iran, the paper proposes to integrate “short-term” and “long-term” housing reconstruction models in order to help the victims have basic but transformable houses immediately after the disaster. In other words, the paper suggests that the potential transformation must be taken into account during very early design and construction stages. The paper contributes to design research and practice and opens new avenues towards more sustainable design with respect to post-earthquake housing projects

Transformability in post-earthquake houses in Iran: with special focus on Lar City

Earthquake is considered as one of the most catastrophic disasters in Iran, in terms of both short-term and longterm hazards. Due to the particular financial and time constraints in Iran, quickly constructed post-earthquake houses (PEHs) do not fulfill the minimum requirements to be considered as comfortable dwellings for people. Consequently, people often transform PEHs after they start to reside. However, lack of understanding about process, motivation, and results of housing transformation leads to construction of some houses not suitable for future transformations, hence resulting in eventually demolished or abandoned PEHs. This study investigated housing transformations in a natural bed of postearthquake Lar. This paper reports results of the conducted survey for comparing normal condition housing transformation with postearthquake housing transformation in order to reveal the factors that affect post-earthquake housing transformation in Iran. The findings proposed the use of a combination of 'Temporary' and 'Permanent' housing reconstruction models in Iran to provide victims with basic but permanent post-disaster dwellings. It is also suggested that needs for future transformation should be predicted and addressed during early stages of design and development. This study contributes to both research and practice regarding post-earthquake housing reconstruction in Iran by proposing new design approaches and guidelines

Transformability in Post-Earthquake Houses in Iran: with Special Focus on Lar City

Earthquake is considered as one of the most catastrophic disasters in Iran, in terms of both short-term and long-term hazards. Due to the particular financial and time constraints in Iran, quickly constructed post-earthquake houses (PEHs) do not fulfill the minimum requirements to be considered as comfortable dwellings for people. Consequently, people often transform PEHs after they start to reside. However, lack of understanding about process, motivation, and results of housing transformation leads to construction of some houses not suitable for future transformations, hence resulting in eventually demolished or abandoned PEHs. This study investigated housing transformations in a natural bed of post-earthquake Lar. This paper reports results of the conducted survey for comparing normal condition housing transformation with post-earthquake housing transformation in order to reveal the factors that affect post-earthquake housing transformation in Iran. The findings proposed the use of a combination of 'Temporary' and 'Permanent' housing reconstruction models in Iran to provide victims with basic but permanent post-disaster dwellings. It is also suggested that needs for future transformation should be predicted and addressed during early stages of design and development. This study contributes to both research and practice regarding post-earthquake housing reconstruction in Iran by proposing new design approaches and guidelines

Quantitative Evaluation Of Microstructural Changes Of Apple Undergoing Different Hot Air Drying Temperatures

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2013Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2013Dehidrasyon sırasında, nemin iç hücrelerden gıda yüzeyine ve daha sonra çevreye aktarilmasi gidalarin mikro yapilarinda değişikliklere neden olur. Mikroyapı çalışmaları kurutma yontemi ve gidanin karakteristik ozellikleri hakkinda bilgi verebilir ve modelleme icin yeterli nitel bilgi ve nicel veri sağlayabilir.Hücrelere bagli aritmetik degisikligin miktari goruntu analizi sayesine belirlenebilir. Son zamanlarda, yüksek çözünürlüge ve büyütme etkisine sahip çok sayıda mikroskoplar gıdalarin mikroyapilarini araştırmak için kullanır.Mikroskopi, gidalarin mikro yapilarini incelemek icin harika bir alettir özellikle birde analiz edilen goruntuyle uyuyorsa. Kurutma sicakliginin bir fonksiyonu olan HAD ye maruz kalan elmalarin hucresel yapilariyla ilgili cok sayida nicel sonuclar yoktur. Normalde, hızlı dehidratasyon islemleri sirasinda gidanin yuzeyleri merkezine gore daha hizli kurur ve bu iç gerilmelere sebeb olur ve bunun sonucunda kırık ve gözenekli urun ortaya cikar. Wangand Brennan buna benzer olaylari patetesi kurutma islemi sırasında mikroskopla gösterdi. Onceden sicak hava kurutmasiyla on islem gormus ve hic gormemis elmalarin mikroyapilari ve mikrodalga metodu C.Ramirez et al tarafindan nicel olarak calisilmis ve onlar deneylerinde elma orneklerini sicak hava durutmasinda 65 dereceye kadar isitmislar. Sanayidede kullanilan elma dilimleri 57 ve 70 &#8451; derecelerinde kurutulur. Kurutma sicakligi (70 &#8451;) yuksek ayarlanirsa urunde doku sertlesmesine ve yuzey catlamasina neden olur, ve bu urunler hazir corba ve sehriye yapiminda kullanilabilir. Eger düşük kurutma sıcaklığı (57&#8451;) ayarlanirsa, urunun yuzeyinde catlak olmayacagi gibi gecirmez bir yuzey olusur. Kurutulmuş elma, kasede uzun omurlu oldugu icin kahvaltılık tahıllarda kullanılabilir ve aynı zamanda müşteriler tarafından doğrudan kullanılabilir. Gıdalardaki nem kaybindan dolayi gidalarin mikroyapilarinda deformasyon olabilir. Gidalardaki mikroyapisal degisiklikler kurutulmus gidalarin dogrudan boyut, sekil, and yapi gibi fiziksel ozellikleriyle baglanti oldugundan onemlidir ve bunlar mustreinin urunu kabul etmesinde etkili factorlerdir. Bu nedenle çoğu fiziksel özelliklerdeki değişimler ürünun mikroyapisindaki değişikliklerle kesinlikle bağlantilidir. Bununla birlikte, gıdalarin mikroyapısindaki değişiklikler uygun değerlendirme algoritmaları kullanımı sayesinde olculebilir ve yorumlanabilir. Fraktal analiz ve ayrica hücresel parametreler, alan ve çevre analizi miktari belirlemek icin onerilen teknikler arasında yer almaktadır. Bu araştırmada, 57 ve 70C olmak uzere iki farklı Sıcak Hava Kurutma (HAD) sıcaklığının hucre boyutlu parametreler tarafindan tanimlanan elma mikroyapısi üzerindeki etkisi incelenmiştir. Havayla kurutma esnasında sıcaklık tarafından meydana gelen değişikliklerden kaynakli su kaybı oranı hesaba katılmıştır. Firinda kurutma ve yakin kizilotesi metodlari nem iceriklerini olcer. Konfokal Lazer Tarama Mikroskobu (CLSM) ve Taramalı Elektron Mikroskobu (SEM) sayesinde elde edilmis olan mikrograf ve yüksek oranda büyütülmüş görüntüler ile sıcak hava kurutucusundan meydana gelen hücre duvarındaki bozulma ortaya cikarilir. Sonuçlara göre hücre duvarındaki bozulma kurutma oraninin etkisi olarak kabul edilebilir. Ürünün fiziksel özelliklerindeki değişiklikler gıdanın mikroyapısindaki değişikliklerden kaynakli olabilir, ve nem içeriği değişikliği, gıda kurutulmasinda diger fiziksel ozelliklerini etkilemesi acisindan en onemli bir ozelliktir. Fakat, kurutma islemi goren gıdanın gerçek mikroyapısal değişikliklerini açıklamak için yeterli nicel bilgi bulunmamaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, gida malzemesi olan elmanin mikroyapı değişiklikleri ve nem içeriği arasındaki nicel ilişkileri bulmaktır. Nem içeriği fırın ve yakın kızılötesi (NIR) metodları kullanılarak ölçüldü. Sonuçlar, NIR methodunun nem içeriğinin ölçülmesinde zararsiz ve hızlı bir yöntem olarak kullanılabileceğini göstermiştir. Mikroyapısal değişimler, numunenin mikroyapısal imajlarının ortalama hucre sınırının ((&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773;) normalize edilmiş değişimleri cinsinden karakterize edilmiştir. İki tarama yöntemi (SEM ve CLSM) bu değişiklikleri göstermek için kullanılmıştır ve sonuçlara gore SEM örnek hazırlama prosedürü örnek yapısını etkilemistir. SEM ve CLSM görüntüleri karşılaştırıldiginda görüntülerdeki küçülme butun ornekler icin ayni degildi. SEM goruntuleri baslangicta CLSM goruntulerine gore daha fazla kuculme gosterdi ki bu SEM’ in örnek hazırlama aşamasındaki kritik kurutma noktası (CPD) nedeniyle olabilir. Ayrıca, mikroyapısal özelliklerin gözlenebilmesi için kullanılabilecek olan iki indikatör ((&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773; and X/X_0) genelleştirildi, test edildi ve karşılaştırıldı. Sonuçlar (&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773; yada X/X_0 in yeterli bir genelleştirilmiş mikroyapısal değişim indikatöru olduğunu ve kuruma sırasında nem içeriğinin azalması ile iyi bir baglanti kurdugunu göstermiştir. Bu çalışmada, taze ve kurutulmuş elma örneklerinin hucre cevre uzunlugu ImageJ yazılımı kullanarak onun mikroyapisal görüntüsunden elde edildi. Goruntuyu analiz etmek icin ilk önce goruntu ikili moda dönüştürüldü sonra, hücre boşluklari hucreler arasi bosluklardan hucra duvarlarina gore bolumlendi. Hücre galası ve alan her hücre küresel olduğu hipotezi ile değerlendirildi. Ortalama hücre çapı, hücrenin çevre ve alan dağılımı eğrisinden elde edilen histogramdan hesaplanmıştır.Ortalama örnek hücre çevre ve alan değiştirme oranlarıni değerlendirmek için normalize edilmis ortalama hucre capi degisimi hesaba katilmistir. Her kurutma sıcaklığı için ortalama hücre çevresi Microsoft Excel de ayrı ayrı hesaplanmıştır. Farklı zaman aralıkları için, her kurutma sıcaklığındaki hücrelerin çevre dağılımı MATLAB programı ile değerlendirildi. Biz hücre çevresini SEM ve CLSM görüntüleri ile hesapladik. MATLAB den elde edilen değerler her bir ornegin ortalama cevre uzunlugunun kurutma esnasinda degisecegini gosterdi. Fakat kurutma sonunda ortaya cikan olaya gore nem icerigi dusuk cikmistir (X/X_0= 0.01), ayni zamanda (&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773; artan bir sekilde sabit kalmistir, ama numune nem icerigi buyuk olcude degismemistir. Bu durum kurutma süresi arttıginda, numunenin mikro yapısi içerisindeki sürekli bir çökmeyle aciklanabilir. Buna ek olarak, bu özellik, kurutmanin daha sonraki bir aşamasinda hücre içindeki su göçunun hücreleri aşağı çekmesine ve cokmesne yol acmasi ile aciklanabilir.Öte yandan, düşük nem seviyesinde, numune sıcaklığı kurutma sıcaklığına yakın cikmistir. Gıdaları Kurutma islemi cam geçiş sıcaklığını artırmak için bir yoldur. Bu aşamada, örnek kurutma sıcaklığı, cam geçiş sıcaklığından daha yüksektir. Bu nedenle, numunenin yapısal çöküşu ilk asamadan ziyade ikinci asamada daha cok ortaya cikar , bu yuzden mikroyapidaki buyuk olcude degisim nem icerigi nerdeyse sabit degere vardiginda ve degismedigi zaman ortaya cikar. Hücre duvarlarının bozulması da kurutma oranını etkileyen bir faktör olarak kabul edilebilir. (&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773; ve X/X_0 arasındaki iliski korelasyon katsayısı ile değerlendirilebilir. Mantıklı bir iliski R^2ile (yaklasik 0,9459 olarak) bulunmuştur. Bu değer dehidrasyon sırasında nem içeriğindeki dusmenin önemli ölçüde boyutsal değişiklikleri etkileyecegini gosterir.During dehydration, transferring moisture from inner cells to the surface of food and then to the environment causes changes in microstructure of foods. Microstructural studies may progress the knowledge of drying methods and food characteristics, and provide adequate qualitative information and quantitative data appropriate to modelling. Changes in arithmetic attributes of cells could be quantified by image analysis.These days, numerous microscopes with high resolution and magnification influence can be used to investigate food microstructure. Microscopy, particularly if matched with image analysis, is a great tool for reviewing food microstructure. Not much quantitative results on the cellular structure damage undergoing HAD of apple as a function of drying temperature are available. Normally, in fast dehydration procedures, the surface of the food dries much quicker than its canter, this incident creates internal stresses and result in so cracked and also porous product. Wangand Brennan showed such incident by microscopy in potato during drying. Microsturucture of pre-treated and non-treated apples by hot air drying (HAD) and microwave method studied by C.Ramirez et al quantitivly, they heated apple samples in HAD till 65&#8451; in their experiments. Two 57&#8451; and 70&#8451; temperatures are used for drying the apple slices that are used in industry as well. Setting the drying temperature high (70&#8451;) causes case hardening and surface cracks in final product that could be used for instant soup or noodle ingredient. Setting the drying temperature low (57&#8451;) forms an impermeable surface with no cracks on the final product. The dried apple could be used for breakfast cereals because of long bowl life, and also are used for direct consuming by customers. Deformation in food microstructure happens because of moisture losing. Food microstructural changes is significant as these changes are straight connected to physical properties of dried food such as size, shape, and texture, which directly have an effect on consumer acceptance. So alteration in most physical properties are definitely due to changes in the product microstructure. Nevertheless, microstructural changes of food can be quantified and interpreted with use of proper evaluation algorithms. Fractal analysis and also cellular parameters, area and perimeter analysis is among the techniques that have been proposed to achieving quantifying. In this research, the effect of two different Hot Air Drying (HAD) temperatures, 57 and 70°C, on apple microstructure characterized by cell size parameter has been studied. The induced changes by temperature on the water loss rate during air drying have been considered. Two methods of oven derying method and Near Infrared methods used to measure the moisture contants. Micrographs and higher magnified images captured by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed a disruption of the cell wall due to the hot air dryer. The results show that cell wall disruption can be assumed as the drying rate effect. Changes of the product’s physical characteristics can be due to the changes in food microstructure, and moisture content change is the most important feature of food drying that affects the other physical characteristics. However, there is not much quantitative information available to explain the exact microstructural changes of food undergoing drying. The aim of the present study is to find quantitative relationships between microstructural changes and the moisture content of a food material (apple). The moisture content was measured by oven and Near Infrared (NIR) methods. Results showed that NIR can be used as a non destructive and fast method for measuring moisture content. The microstructural changes were characterized quantitatively in terms of the normalized changes of the average cell perimeter ((&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773;) of the samples’ microstructural images. Two methods of scanning (SEM and CLSM ) were used to show these changes, and the results showed that SEM sample preparation procedure can affect the sample structure. A comparison between SEM and CLSM images showed that the effect of shrinkage was not the same for all samples. SEM images show more shrinking at the beginning of the capturing compare to CLSM images, which can be due to the critical point drying (CPD) at the sample preparation stage for SEM. In this study, cell perimeterof a fresh and dehydrated apple samples was obtained from its microstructural image by using ImageJ software .For analysing images first they were converted to a binary mode, the cell spaces were then sectioned from intercellular spaces and the cell walls. The cell premiere and area was assessed with the hypothesis that each cell was spherical. The average cell diameter was calculated from the histogram obtained from a cell perimeter and area distribution curve. To evaluate the changing rates of the average sample cell perimeter and area the normalized change of the average cell diameter is accounted. The average cell perimeter for each drying temperature was calculated separately in Microsoft Excel. The distribution of the cells’ perimeter in every drying temperature for different time intervals was evaluated by the MATLAB program. We calculated the cell perimeter in both SEM and CLSM images. Obtained values from MATLAB show that the average cell perimeter of each sample changes during drying. We also generalized, tested, and compared two indicators ((&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773; and X/X_0) which could be applied for monitoring microstructural features. The results showed that either (&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773;o or X/X_0 are indicators for sufficient generalized microstructural change and correlate well with the moisture content decrease during drying. However, the phenomenon that occurs toward the end of drying is that moisture content became lower(X/X_0= 0.01), at the same time (&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773; kept increasing constantly, but the moisture content of the sample did not change greatly. This can be due to the continual collapse in the microstructure of the sample when the drying time increases. In addition, this feature can be explained by migrating water within the cells at the later stage of drying, leading the cells to be pulled down and collapsed. On the other hand, at a low moisture level, the sample temperature came close to the drying temperature. Drying of foods is a way to increase the glass transition temperature. At this stage, the sample drying temperature is higher than the glass transition temperature. Therefore, a structural collapse occurs in the sample in the second stage more than the initial stages, hence considerable changes in the microstructure occur even when the moisture content is near to constant value and does not change much. Disruption of cell walls can be also considered as a factor that affects the rate of drying. Correlations between (&#8710;P) &#773;/(P_0 ) &#773; and X/X_0 were assessed by the correlation coefficient. A logical correlation was found with the R^2of about 0.9459 . This value indicates that a decrease in moisture content during dehydration significantly affects the changes in dimensional changes.Yüksek LisansM.Sc

The environmental benefits of urban open green spaces

Most of the scientific papers on urban planning and sustainable development begin by emphasizing the multiple benefits of urban open green space. When it comes to the benefits of urban green and open space, one should concern on the facilities provided to promote human or societal wellbeing, either directly or indirectly. In this study, a review of identified peer-reviewed literature from the most popular online databases was carried out and its contribution to improve our understanding of urban open green spaces and their environmental benefits to the human being are discussed. These many benefits cover various areas such as natural conservation which increases biodiversity of flora and fauna, affecting urban climate by reduction of air temperature and urban heat islands, improving air quality, decreasing air pollution and carbon sequestration, noise reduction and cleaning up contaminants. As urban open green spaces contribute to human and social wellbeing, they are essential for livable and sustainable cities