Realizing Henri Lefebvre: Ideas of Social Space in Lucien Kroll's La Meme, Brussels 1969-1972 and Bernard Tschumi's Parc de la Villette, Paris 1982-1987.

This dissertation contributes to discourse on architecture as a social product by drawing upon French critical philosopher Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space to examine the nature and degree of social and political engagement in two seminal architectural practices of the “post-68” period. Specifically, the dissertation focuses on the participatory architecture of La Mémé medical student housing (1969-1972) outside Brussels by Belgian architect Lucien Kroll and the program-oriented masterplan of Parc de la Villette (1982-1987) in Paris by Swiss-French architect Bernard Tschumi. Despite extensive documentation of Kroll’s and Tschumi’s commissions in the scholarly and popular press, the limitations and potentials of their strategies in the context of lived reality have rarely been discussed. This dissertation approaches the question of how each theorist defines space and discusses its relationship to social and political meaning, and furthermore, how the selected works of Kroll and Tschumi translate this understanding into built form. A crucial part of my investigation involves opening up the rhetorical terrain that surrounds the two case studies and analyzing their architecture with an eye to politics and processes of execution. Through the integration of logical argumentation and case study strategies, my research examines the heterogeneous expectations or the outcomes of the two projects; and the remarkably dichotomous reception to each work, as either socially engaged and transformative or simulated and rigid. The dissertation concludes by highlighting the extent to which the mutually cooperative and conflictual moments of conception, realization, and subsequent inhabitation in each case study are illuminated by Lefebvre’s social space of dialogue, difference, and contradiction. Lefebvre’s writings bring together two previously unrelated radical works as they focus on issues of space and the creative possibilities of everyday human activity.PHDArchitectureUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135882/1/kshpatel_1.pd

The Affects of Music Therapy on Management of Pain and Anxiety During Burn Dressing Changes

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not music therapy improves pain management and anxiety during burn dressing changes. STUDY DESIGN: Review of three English languages primary randomized controlled trial studies published from 1992-2010. DATA SOURCES: Three randomized controlled trials studying the affects of music therapy during burn dressing changes were found using PubMed, OVID and Cochrane databases. OUTCOMES MEASURED: Outcomes measured were level of pain and anxiety experienced by the patients. The severities of these symptoms were measured using a numeric scale system. An analyses of anxiety was measured using Spielberger’s State- Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Form Y) in one of the studies. RESULTS: Two of the randomized control trials showed that music therapy in adjunct with standard protocols for burn dressing changes improved the level of pain and anxiety in patients. Results from Tan and Miler’s study showed significant decrease of pain and anxiety in patients with adjunct music therapy. In the study conducted by Haythornthwaite et al, there was no significant relief of symptoms in patients who received the intervention. CONCLUSION: The trials reviewed, designed to qualify the affects of music therapy on burn patients, demonstrated that there is a significant reduction of pain and anxiety during and after standard dressing change procedure

Aortic Stenosis: Multimorbidity and Myocardial Impact on Patients undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation

Introduction: In aortic stenosis (AS), the myocardium remodels to compensate for the obstruction to forward flow before eventually decompensating, often acutely- termed acute decompensated AS (ADAS). Patients with AS often have other comorbidities, including coronary artery disease (CAD), cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR) and frailty which may also influence the myocardium and outcomes. This thesis examines the impact of multimorbidity on the myocardium and outcomes, diagnostic markers and decompensation in three patient populations: ATTR, CAD and ADAS. / Methods: To evaluate the impact of AS and ATTR on the combined phenotype AS-ATTR, I compared 4 prospective cohorts (n=583): elderly controls, severe AS, AS-ATTR and ATTR. Using a single-centre, registry I retrospectively evaluated the impact o mong 1902 transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) patients, I assessed the impact of CAD stratified by location (left main stem (LMS) vs non-LMS) and territory (single-vessel vs multi-vessel) on mortality. I examined the diagnostic ability of 3 commonly used metrics: Troponin T, ischaemic ECG and angina, to diagnose a type 1 NSTEMI in 273 AS patients with acute presentations. I compared outcomes with TAVI in patients with ADAS vs non-ADAS. Within the ADAS cohort, I evaluated the prognostic role of a new echo based staging classification. / Results: Dual pathology with AS-ATTR is more closely related to ATTR than it is to AS, despite a similar burden of amyloid. Only LMS CAD was independently associated with mortality (HR: 1.57) after the first year post-TAVI. All 3 metrics have a low sensitivity and diagnostic ability (AUC 0.625, 0.559 and 0.692 respectively). TAVI procedural complications and mortality were similar between ADAS and non-ADAS cohorts. However, ADAS independently predicted mortality at 30 days (HR 1.02). Among ADAS patients, advanced cardiac damage/dysfunction predicts mortality at 1 year (HR 1.853) whilst frailty predicts mortality at 2.4 years (HR 1.667). / Conclusions: This thesis has demonstrated the effect of dual pathology (AS-ATTR) on altering the resultant AS phenotype, the prognostic impact of multimorbidity (frailty and LMS CAD) in TAVI, the impact of AS on confounding common diagnostic pathways (NSTEMI) and identified a novel prognostic marker (ADAS)

Contrast-induced acute kidney injury following coronary angiography in patients with end-stage liver disease

Background: Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CIAKI) following coronary angiography is frequently observed in the general population. End-stage liver disease (ESLD) patients are at a particularly increased risk for development of CIAKI following coronary angiography due to preexisting renal hypoperfusion. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 544 consecutive cardiac catheterizations in ESLD patients from December 2003 to May 2013 to calculate the incidence of CIAKI post-coronary angiography and to identify risk factors for CIAKI. CIAKI was defined as a serum creatinine increase of either \u3e/= 25% or \u3e/= 0.5 mg/dL from baseline within 72 hours. Multivariable and Cox regression analysis was performed for development of CIAKI and all-cause mortality, respectively. Results: Overall, 179 cases of coronary angiography were included in the final analysis. CIAKI occurred in 23% of patients. All-cause mortality was 52% in the CIAKI group and 37% in the non-CIAKI group, with a mean follow-up of 2.2 +/- 3.8 years. Multivariable analysis identified intensive care unit admission (OR 2.72, CI 1.05-7.01, p \u3c 0.05) and baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (OR 1.02, CI 1.002-1.035, p \u3c 0.05) as independent predictors of CIAKI. Cox regression analysis identified pre-angiography beta-blocker use (HR 2.13, CI 1.04-4.38, p \u3c 0.05), international normalized ratio (HR 1.37, CI 1.05-1.78, p \u3c 0.05) and Mehran risk score (HR 1.13, CI 1.02-1.25, p \u3c 0.05) as independent predictors of all-cause mortality. Conclusions: CIAKI in ESLD patients undergoing coronary angiography occurs at a moderately elevated rate when compared to the general population

Enhanced microwave assisted processing of 2D cylindrical porous food dielectric

[EN] The importance of microwave assisted thermal processing for the food industry relies on the fact of the procedure being economical and swift along with ensuring high quality product. The sample has been assumed as a porous solid food with meat being the continuous phase and oil or water being the dispersed phase. The resultant matrix of meat-oil or meat-water is considered to be a 2D cylinder being subjected to microwave irradiation in two different interaction schemes i.e. lateral and radial. The thermal effect of the interaction is calculated by applying Galerkin finite element analysis to simultaneously solve the Maxwell's equation and heat transfer equation using pertinent boundary conditions. The preliminary solution gives the value of average power absorption at different sample sizes which exhibit few peak points depicting enhanced heating and power absorption. Further study consists of analyzing the spatial distribution of power and temperature along with the transient temperature difference and mean temperature evolution within the sample corresponding to designated observation points. The heating strategy exhibiting high heating rate and low thermal nonuniformity is recommended as the preferred optimum condition. For both meat-oil and meatwater porous solids, the radial irradiation is recommended as the optimal heating strategy corresponding to smaller sample diameter (OP: 1) whereas lateral irradiation is recommended for larger sample diameter (OP: 2). Overall the present work serves as a guide for enhanced microwave assisted heating of porous food samples in the shape of 2D cylinders.Kumari, S.; Samanta, S.; Patel, K. (2019). Enhanced microwave assisted processing of 2D cylindrical porous food dielectric. En AMPERE 2019. 17th International Conference on Microwave and High Frequency Heating. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 253-260. https://doi.org/10.4995/AMPERE2019.2019.9893OCS25326

Rethinking Ductility -- A Study Into the Size-Affected Fracture of Polymers

Ductility quantifies a material's capacity for plastic deformation, and it is a key property for preventing fracture driven failure in engineering parts. While some brittle materials exhibit improved ductility at small scales, the processes underlying this phenomenon are not well understood. This work establishes a mechanism for the origin of ductility via an investigation of size-affected fracture processes and polymer degree of conversion (DC) in two-photon lithography (TPL) fabricated materials. Microscale single edge notch bend ($\mu$SENB) specimens were written with widths from 8 to 26 $\mu$m and with different laser powers and post-write thermal annealing to control the DC between 17\% and 80\%. We find that shifting from low to high DC predictably causes a $\sim$3x and $\sim$4x increase in strength and bending stiffness, respectively, but that there is a corresponding $\sim$6x decrease in fracture energy from 180 $J/m^2$ to 30 $J/m^2$. Notably, this reduced fracture energy is accompanied by a ductile-to-brittle transition (DBT) in the failure behavior. Using finite element analysis, we demonstrate that the DBT occurs when the fracture yielding zone size ($r_p$) approaches the sample width, corresponding with a known fracture size-affected transition from flaw-based to strength-based failure. This finding provides a crucial insight that ductility is a size-induced property that occurs when features are reduced below a characteristic fracture length scale and that strength, stiffness, and toughness alone are insufficient predictors of ductility.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Pedagogy of the Digitally Oppressed: Reprogramming Wikipedia to Decolonize Classroom Learning

The purposes and uses of Wikipedia in the classroom are multiple and emerging. From the integral role it can play in the design of classroom assignments to the ways in which the platform enables students to address gaps in the histories of Black, Indigenous, Dalit, women, disabled, and queer and trans people of colour, Wikipedia is being used to redefine both classroom and community-based learning. Adding relevant content to Wikipedia and addressing Wikipedia’s limitations, however, are not straightforward tasks. Many people, places, and political struggles have been ignored by history, and not all such individuals and events have “notable” digital footprints for inline citations, a requirement for creating a Wikipedia post. On the one hand, adding underrepresented stories to Wikipedia is a way to write them into history. On the other hand, Wikipedia’s structure and core criteria of “notability” and “neutrality” can make such processes both difficult and difficult to “stick” for ongoing pedagogy work. In addressing these concerns, we will go past the conventional use of Wikipedia in the classroom; reflect on its limits and possibilities with and through our institutional experiences; and collaboratively draft guidelines for critical Wikipedia pedagogy