Making Infrastructure Legible

This thesis represents the development and pilot application of a novel methodology for the speculative qualitative assessment (or “prototyping”) of new infrastructural systems. Its core aim and guiding principle is to make infrastructure legible: to reveal and narrate its role in everyday life from a more human perspective than that of the paradigmatic technology-focussed approach. Or, more simply, the project aims to understand how infrastructures develop, how they evolve and entangle over time. The methodology is centred on a novel model of sociotechnical change, known as the infrastructural trialectic. The trialectic makes a unique relational distinction between infrastructural systems and the technologies through which infrastructural functions are accessed, traces vectors of influence between focal actors in the model, and provides a framework for mapping the articulatory institutions which are enrolled in the formation and mutation of infrastructural assemblages. The methodology has two modes of application: the historical mode, and the speculative. In the historical mode, the trialectic model becomes the lens of a situated longue duree analysis which explores the historical dynamics of sociotechnical change in the assemblages underpinning a particular everyday practice. In the speculative mode, the findings from the historical mode are used as the basis for an extrapolative and speculative analysis of a novel technological intervention into the practice previously analysed. Drawing on techniques from strategic foresight and critical design, the prospective technology is “prototyped” against the context of a suite of four divergent near-future scenarios, so as to “stress test” the plausibility of its deployment under difficult circumstances. This thesis presents and applies a novel model of sociotechnical change, and in doing so demonstrates that the shortcomings of paradigmatic models of change might be addressed through such an approach. It further demonstrates a unique hybrid method for the assessment and critique of new technologies and practices alike, which provides a more human perspective upon infrastructure (and indeed upon change itself) than prevailing approaches to assessment

The New Narrative: Applying narratology to the shaping of futures outputs

Both scenario development and design practices incorporate elements of storytelling, but this use remains undertheorised. This paper will draw upon literary theory, film theory and science fiction criticism to develop an analytical model of narrative structure and rhetorics which speaks to the concerns of scenario developers and designers when engaged in shaping the final outputs or deliverables of a futures project. After highlighting the differing role of telos in art and futures and defining the metacategory of “narratives of futurity”, this paper then defines the terms “story”, “narrative”, “narrator” and “world” in the literary context. It then shows how those concepts map onto futures practice, before going into detail regarding the variety of narrative strategies available across a range of different forms and media, and the qualitative effects that they can reproduce in audiences. There follows the construction of a 2 × 2 matrix based on the critical concepts of narrative mode and narrative logic, within which narratives of futurity might be usefully catalogued and compared, and from which certain broad conclusions may be reached as regards the relation between choice of medium and rhetorical effect. The implications of this analysis are explored in detail

Access to healthy foods: Part I. Barriers to accessing healthy foods: Differentials by gender, social class, income and mode of transport

This paper examines the issues of access to food and the influences people face when shopping for a healthy food basket. It uses data from the Health Edu cation Authority's 1993 Health and Lifestyles Survey to examine the barriers people face in accessing a healthy diet. The main findings are that access to food is primarily determined by income, and this is in turn closely related to physical resources available to access healthy food. There is an associated class bias over access to sources of healthy food. The poor have less access to a car, find it harder to get to out-of-town shopping centres and thus are less able to carry and transport food in bulk. The majority of people shop in supermarkets as they report that local shops do not provide the services people demand and that food choice and quality are limited. In tackling food poverty and pro moting healthy eating, health promotion practice needs to address these struc tural issues as opposed to relying on psycho-social models of education based on the provision of information and choice

Infrastructural Speculations: Tactics for Designing and Interrogating Lifeworlds

This paper introduces “infrastructural speculations,” an orientation toward speculative design that considers the complex and long-lived relationships of technologies with broader systems, beyond moments of immediate invention and design. As modes of speculation are increasingly used to interrogate questions of broad societal concern, it is pertinent to develop an orientation that foregrounds the “lifeworld” of artifacts—the social, perceptual, and political environment in which they exist. While speculative designs often imply a lifeworld, infrastructural speculations place lifeworlds at the center of design concern, calling attention to the cultural, regulatory, environmental, and repair conditions that enable and surround particular future visions. By articulating connections and affinities between speculative design and infrastructure studies research, we contribute a set of design tactics for producing infrastructural speculations. These tactics help design researchers interrogate the complex and ongoing entanglements among technologies, institutions, practices, and systems of power when gauging the stakes of alternate lifeworlds

Exercise, cognition and Alzheimer’s disease: More is not necessarily better

Regional hypoperfusion, associated with a reduction in cerebral metabolism, is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and contributes to cognitive decline. Cerebral perfusion and hence cognition can be enhanced by exercise. The present review describes first how the effects of exercise on cerebral perfusion in AD are mediated by nitric oxide (NO) and tissue-type plasminogen activator, the release of which is regulated by NO. A conclusion of clinical relevance is that exercise may not be beneficial for the cognitive functioning of all people with dementia if cardiovascular risk factors are present. The extent to which cardiovascular risk factors play a role in the selection of older people with dementia in clinical studies will be addressed in the second part of the review in which the effects of exercise on cognition are presented. Only eight relevant studies were found in the literature, emphasizing the paucity of studies in this field. Positive effects of exercise on cognition were reported in seven studies, including two that excluded and two that included patients with cardiovascular risk factors. These findings suggest that cardiovascular risk factors do not necessarily undo the beneficial effects of exercise on cognition in cognitively impaired people. Further research is called for, in view of the limitations of the clinical studies reviewed here.

Single infrastructure utility provision to households: Technological feasibility study

This paper contemplates the future of utility infrastructure, and considers whether an “All-in-One” approach could supply all necessary utility services to tomorrow's households. The intention is not to propose infrastructure solutions that are currently technically feasible or justifiable, however; the objective is to present visions of future infrastructure that would only be possible with new advances in science and technology, or significant improvements and adaptations of existing knowledge and techniques. The All-in-One vision is explored using several vignettes, each of which envisions a novel, multi-functional infrastructure for serving future communities. The vignettes were conceived using imaginative exercises and brain-storming activities; each was then rooted in technological and scientific feasibility, as informed by extensive literature searches and the input of domain leaders. The vignettes tell their own stories, and we identify the challenges that would need to be overcome to make these visions into reality. The main aim of this work is to encourage radical approaches to thinking about future infrastructure provision, with a focus on rationalisation, efficiency, sustainability and resilience in preparation for the challenging times ahead. The All-in-One concept introduces the possibility of a unified and singular system for infrastructure service provision; this work seeks to explore the possibility space opened thereby

Measurement of cos⁡2β\cos{2\beta} in B0→D(∗)h0B^{0} \to D^{(*)} h^{0} with D→KS0π+π−D \to K_{S}^{0} \pi^{+} \pi^{-} decays by a combined time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis of BaBar and Belle data

We report measurements of $\sin{2\beta}$ and $\cos{2\beta}$ from a time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis of $B^{0} \to D^{(*)} h^{0}$ with $D \to K_{S}^{0} \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$ decays, where the light unflavored and neutral hadron $h^{0}$ is a $\pi^{0}$, $\eta$, or $\omega$ meson. The analysis is performed with a combination of the final data sets of the \babar\ and Belle experiments containing $471 \times 10^{6}$ and $772 \times 10^{6}$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected at the $\Upsilon\left(4S\right)$ resonance at the asymmetric-energy B factories PEP-II at SLAC and KEKB at KEK, respectively. We measure $\sin{2\beta} = 0.80 \pm 0.14 \,(\rm{stat.}) \pm 0.06 \,(\rm{syst.}) \pm 0.03 \,(\rm{model})$ and $\cos{2\beta} = 0.91 \pm 0.22 \,(\rm{stat.}) \pm 0.09 \,(\rm{syst.}) \pm 0.07 \,(\rm{model})$. The result for the direct measurement of the angle is $\beta = \left( 22.5 \pm 4.4 \,(\rm{stat.}) \pm 1.2 \,(\rm{syst.}) \pm 0.6 \,(\rm{model}) \right)^{\circ}$. The last quoted uncertainties are due to the composition of the $D^{0} \to K_{S}^{0} \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$ decay amplitude model, which is newly established by a Dalitz plot amplitude analysis of a high-statistics $e^{+}e^{-} \to c\bar{c}$ data sample as part of this analysis. We find the first evidence for $\cos2\beta>0$ at the level of $3.7$ standard deviations. The measurement excludes the trigonometric multifold solution $\pi/2 - \beta = (68.1 \pm 0.7)^{\circ}$ at the level of $7.3$ standard deviations and therefore resolves an ambiguity in the determination of the apex of the CKM Unitarity Triangle. The hypothesis of $\beta = 0^{\circ}$ is ruled out at the level of $5.1$ standard deviations, and thus CP violation is observed in $B^{0} \to D^{(*)} h^{0}$ decays.Comment: To be submitted to Physical Review

Research and Design of a Routing Protocol in Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

无线传感器网络，作为全球未来十大技术之一，集成了传感器技术、嵌入式计算技术、分布式信息处理和自组织网技术，可实时感知、采集、处理、传输网络分布区域内的各种信息数据，在军事国防、生物医疗、环境监测、抢险救灾、防恐反恐、危险区域远程控制等领域具有十分广阔的应用前景。 本文研究分析了无线传感器网络的已有路由协议，并针对大规模的无线传感器网络设计了一种树状路由协议，它根据节点地址信息来形成路由，从而简化了复杂繁冗的路由表查找和维护，节省了不必要的开销，提高了路由效率，实现了快速有效的数据传输。 为支持此路由协议本文提出了一种自适应动态地址分配算——ADAR（AdaptiveDynamicAddre...As one of the ten high technologies in the future, wireless sensor network, which is the integration of micro-sensors, embedded computing, modern network and Ad Hoc technologies, can apperceive, collect, process and transmit various information data within the region. It can be used in military defense, biomedical, environmental monitoring, disaster relief, counter-terrorism, remote control of haz...学位：工学硕士院系专业：信息科学与技术学院通信工程系_通信与信息系统学号：2332007115216

City blood: A visionary infrastructure solution for household energy provision through water distribution networks

This paper aims to expand current thinking about the future of energy and water utility provision by presenting a radical idea: it proposes a combined delivery system for household energy and water utilities, which is inspired by an analogy with the human body. It envisions a multi-functional infrastructure for cities of the future, modelled on the human circulatory system. Red blood cells play a crucial role as energy carriers in biological energy distribution; they are suspended in the blood, and distributed around the body to fuel the living cells. So why not use an analogous system – an urban circulatory system, or “city blood” – to deliver energy and water simultaneously via one dedicated pipeline system? This paper focuses on analysing the scientific, technological and economic feasibilities and hurdles which would need to be overcome in order to achieve this idea. We present a rationale for the requirement of an improved household utility delivery infrastructure, and discuss the inspirational analogy; the technological components required to realise the vignette are also discussed. We identify the most significant advance requirement for the proposal to succeed: the utilisation of solid or liquid substrate materials, delivered through water pipelines; their benefits and risks are discussed

Rhétorique de la futurité : scénarios, design fiction, prototypes et autres modalités évaporées de la science-fiction

Cet article propose l’idée selon laquelle la science-fiction est en fait un sous-genre d’un genre d’histoires représentant des futurs imaginaires, un genre bien plus large, indifférent aux médiums, et qu’en examinant les choix et les stratégies employés pour produire ces histoires, nous pouvons obtenir une bonne idée de la façon dont elles donnent forme aux futurs qu’elles représentent. Le cadre analytique repose sur une matrice 2x2 dans laquelle deux continuums de stratégies narratives se croisent : la première dichotomie porte sur les modes diégétique et narratif, et la seconde sur les logiques dramatique et spectaculaire. En plaçant un texte sur cette carte typologique, il devient possible de prédire de manière assez large le cadrage rhétorique dans lequel le futur de ce récit est représenté.This essay proposes that science fiction is actually a subgenre of a far larger, medium agnostic genre of stories that portray imagined futures, and that by looking at the choices and strategies used during the production of these stories, we can get an insight into the way they frame the future they present. The framework is based in a 2x2 matrix in which two continua of narrative stragegy are entangled : the first dichotomy is that between the diegetic and mimetic modes, and the second is that between the dramatic and spectacular logics. By positioning a given text on this typological map, it becomes possible to broadly predict the rhetorical frame in which that narrative’s future is presented