Nonlinear aeroelastic modeling via conformal mapping and vortex method for a flat-plate airfoil in arbitrary motion

A nonlinear aerodynamic modeling based on conformal mapping is presented to obtain semi-analytical formulas for the unsteady aerodynamic force and pitching moment on a flat-plate airfoil in arbitrary motion. The aerodynamic model accounts for large amplitudes and non-planar wake and is used to study the aeroelastic behavior of a flat-plate airfoil elastically connected to a support. The fluid is assumed to be inviscid and incompressible, while the flow is assumed to be attached, planar, and potential. Within these hypotheses, conformal mapping and a complex-potential representation of unsteady aerodynamics are used to simplify the theoretical formulation. The vorticity shed at the trailing edge is discretized in desingularized point vortices in order to allow free-wake dynamics. The unsteady aerodynamic model is validated with classical linearized formulations based on the assumption of small disturbances, and with experimental data and theoretical predictions for a large-amplitude pitch-up, hold, pitch-down maneuver. The aeroelastic model is then used to simulate the response of a flat-plate airfoil to sudden starts and body-vortex interactions. Numerical results show that the proposed approach can be an effective tool to model the aeroelastic behavior of an arbitrarily-moving wing section in a time-dependent potential stream of incompressible fluid

Tunable plasmonic enhancement of light scattering and absorption in graphene-coated subwavelength wires

The electromagnetic response of subwavelength wires coated with a graphene monolayer illuminated by a linearly polarized plane waves is investigated. The results show that the scattering and extintion cross-sections of the coated wire can be dramatically enhanced when the incident radiation resonantly excites localized surface plasmons. The enhancements occur for p--polarized incident waves and for excitation frequencies that correspond to complex poles in the coefficients of the multipole expansion for the scattered field. By dynamically tuning the chemical potential of graphene, the spectral position of the enhancements can be chosen over a wide range.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Optics 201

EWV: Re-drawing operations: methodology questions and results

V. Riso has been member (and coordinator at the Universidade do Minho) of research project group PTDC/AUR-AQI/103229/2008 (Fundação da Ciência e Tecnologia financing) Exchanging worlds visions: modern architecture in Lusophone Africa (1943-1974) looking through Brazilian experience established since the 1930s. Organizing institution Instituto Superior Técnico da UTL, team leader: A. Tostões. Overall bugdet: 188.502,00. Universidade do Minho budget: 71.142,00 €. Duration from March 2010 up to July 2013.As it was defined since the writing of the application proposal of our research project, the main purpose of redrawing original design working drawing should have been that to update the buildings’ representation that then could serve as an essential basis for their study. In practice we gathered any available information from the archives, from photographic surveys, from the field work measurements and from the authors’ statements about selected single buildings and then patiently tried to integrate and synthesize it into the minimum necessary number of plans, sections, elevations and details, that could offer a sufficient definition of each built work. That is to say that since the beginning we planned to re-draw the design drawings of a consisted number of works. So in terms of methodology the first question to explain is why we decided to act in this way, while many of you may simply observe that it always preferable to study and divulge the original drawings about an architectural piece of work.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Good Death: Expectations concerning death and the afterlife among Evangelical Nonconformists in England 1830-1880

This thesis examines six factors that helped to shape beliefs and expectations about death among evangelical Nonconformists in England from 1830 down to 1880: the literary conventions associated with the denominational magazine obituaries that were used as primary source material, theology, social background, denominational variations, Romanticism and the last words and experiences of the dying. The research is based on an analysis of 1,200 obituaries divided evenly among four evangelical Nonconformist denominations: the Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Methodists, the Congregationalists and the Baptists. The study is distinctive in four respects. First, the statistical analysis according to three time periods (the 1830s, 1850s and 1870s), close reading and categorisation of a sample this large are unprecedented and make it possible to observe trends among Nonconformists in mid-nineteenth-century England. Second, it evaluates the literary construct of the obituaries as a four-fold formula consisting of early life, conversion, the living out of the faith and the death narrative as a tool for understanding them as authentic windows into evangelical Nonconformist experience. Third, the study traces two movements that inform the changing Nonconformist experience of death: the social shift towards middle-class respectability and the intellectual shift towards a broader Evangelicalism. Finally, the thesis considers how the varying experiences of the dying person and the observers and recorders of the death provide different perspectives. These features inform the primary argument of the thesis, which is that expectations concerning death and the afterlife among evangelical Nonconformists in England from 1830 down to 1880 changed as reflections of larger shifts in Nonconformity towards middle-class respectability and a broader Evangelicalism. This transformation was found to be clearly revealed when considering the tension in Nonconformist allegiance to both worldly and spiritual matters. While the last words of the dying pointed to a timeless experience that placed hope in the life to come, the obituaries as compiled by the observers of the death and by the obituary authors and editors reflected changing attitudes towards death and the afterlife among nineteenth-century evangelical Nonconformists that looked increasingly to earthly existence for the fulfilment of hopes

The value of modern legacy for ordinary people illustrated by microhistories of conservation in Portugal

Rather than only being a matter of iconic monuments, Modern architecture tried to provide decent housing and facilities, by finding beauty in everyday pieces of social planning. Pieces in which you could find the universal aesthetics conjugated with the local realms. Sometimes those buildings still just exist in remnants, that may be neglected, as well as the memoirs and stories that took place there. Cases of this kind have been pursued as minor examples of conservation of Modern built heritage. Namely this is the plot of two buildings from the early production of Alvaro Siza in which he was experimenting the use of exposed concrete (something rare in 1950’s Portugal); and both of which were altered shortly after the completion, then had a difficult story, laying today almost abandoned. By going into the detail of the, now ongoing, architectural design process for their conservation, we recognize that, in those situations, architectural heritage values are initially perceived as useless; whereas if recognized, they could constitute the gift for a different chapter for a mistreated building. Precisely those micro-histories of conservation emerge as occasions to prove the social potential of Modern heritage, that is to say its value for ordinary people

From research to clinical settings: validation of the Affect in Play Scale \u2013 Preschool Brief Version in a sample of preschool and school-aged Italian children

Affect in Play Scale-Preschool (APS-P) is one of the few standardized tools to measure pretend play. APS-P is an effective measure of symbolic play, able to detect both cognitive and affective dimensions which classically designated play in children, but often are evaluated separately and are scarcely integrated. The scale uses 5 min standardized play task with a set of toys. Recently the scale was extended from 6 to 10 years old and validated in Italy preschool and school-aged children. Some of the main limitations of this measure are that it requires videotaping, verbatim transcripts, and an extensive scoring training, which could compromise its clinical utility. For these reasons, a Brief version of the measure was developed by the original authors. This paper will focus on an APS-P Brief Version and its Extended Version through ages (6\u201310 years), which consists \u201cin vivo\u201d coding. This study aimed to evaluate construct and external validity of this APS-P Brief Version and its Extended Version in a sample of 538 Italian children aged 4-to-10 years. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a two correlated factor structure including an affective and a cognitive factor. APS-P-BR and its Extended Version factor scores strongly related to APS-P Extended Version factor scores. Significant relationships were found with a divergent thinking task. Results suggest that the APS-P-BR and its Extended Version is an encouraging brief measure assessing pretend play using toys. It would easily substitute the APS-P and its Extended Version in clinical and research settings, reducing time and difficulties in scoring procedures and maintaining the same strengths

Álvaro Siza's lordelo do ouro cooperative building: preliminary studies towards the conservation of a masterpiece in need of recognition

Álvaro Siza designed and built (1960-63) the Lordelo do Ouro Cooperative Building in Porto by appointment of the national federative cooperative movement in Portugal. The building has seldom been considered throughout almost four decades of critical reviews about Siza’s worldwide renowned work. That was probably due to the deteriorated aspect it was reduced to, in fact few years after its completion the management fired the architect and operated heavy alterations. Nowadays, because of socio-economic changes, which were not matched, the Cooperative lies almost abandoned. No doubt that the building looks poor, nevertheless the robustness of its spatial and structural organization has preserved most of its intrinsic quality, which is still there just waiting to be rediscovered and once again fully appreciated.Projeto com a referência - UID/AUR/04509/201

Awakening in Fairyland: The Journey of a Soul in George MacDonald\u27s \u3ci\u3eThe Golden Key\u3c/i\u3e

Sees MacDonald’s writing as a dialectic about “the conflict between what is and what seems to be.” Shows how the patterns and characters of his novels reflect his theology, especially as shown in The Golden Key

The Polana High School

V. Riso has been member (and coordinator at the Universidade do Minho) of research project group PTDC/AUR-AQI/103229/2008 (Fundação da Ciência e Tecnologia financing) Exchanging worlds visions: modern architecture in Lusophone Africa (1943-1974) looking through Brazilian experience established since the 1930s. Organizing institution Instituto Superior Técnico da UTL, team leader: Ana Tostões. Overall bugdet: 188.502,00. Universidade do Minho budget: 71.142,00 €. Duration from March 2010 up to July 2013.Polana High School had been designed by José João Tinoco and José Forjaz around 1970 and its construction started in 1973, but at arriving of independence it had not yet been completed, due to the lacking of the sporting practice sector. The building lived very well of its simple and efficient organization and its material roughness, for several decades; but in the recent years the concrete structures had began to demonstrate some serious problems of breaking up, some of them due to the corrosion determined by the prevailing coastal winds and some others determined by internal percolations of refluent waters. Severe corrosion problems concerned also the metallic operable sashes of the glazing surfaces and more dangerously even the steel fitting supports of the heavy vertical sun-breakers concrete panels. This essay describes the original building design and also the recent restoration works, which have recently led up.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

“Not storing the samples it’s certainly not a good service for patients”: Constructing the Biobank as a health place

Biobanks have been established from the beginning of the millennium as relevant infrastructures to support biomedical research. These repositories have also transformed the paradigm of collecting and storing samples and associated clinical data, moving these practices from the healthcare services and research laboratories to dedicated services. In Portugal, the establishment of biobanks is happening in the absence of a specific legal framework, turning it difficult to fully understand the scope of their action. This ethnographic research explored how establishing a biobank challenges the dynamics between healthcare and biomedical research. The ethnography intended to follow the path of biological samples from the hospital, where they were collected, to the biobank in a research institute, where they were stored. Findings suggest that although the nature of the biobank’s technical work seemed to inscribe it as a research-oriented setting, the biobank’s daily work was performed through symbolic action in the logic of care. Biobank staff constantly recalled the human nature of the samples, and they built complex illness narratives of each sample, promoting a connection with the absent donor. These practices were crucial to constructing the biobank as a health place, one that was designed to be life-saving in the near future.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio