Inadvertent Legitimization of Despotism: A Qualitative Case-Study of the International Approach to the War in Syria

MasteroppgaveSAMPOL350MASV-SAP

Building information modelling for visualisation in AEC education

This paper outlines the process used to introduce building information modelling into the academic curriculum of built environment students and reflects on the techniques used to ensure appropriate use of parametric tools for the purposes of visualisation. The integration of building information modelling into other curriculum subjects is outlined. The study introduces the collaboration between Northumbria University and Chalmers Lindholmen Visualiseringsstudio and considers the future potential of building information modelling and whether it may con-tribute to reduced time and cost of creating three dimensional models suitable for Virtual Reality worlds

HLA-Antigens and Contact Hypersensitivity

The HLA-A, -B, -C typing of 100 bricklayers was performed. 50 bricklayers had developed contact allergy to chromium while 50 were healthy bricklayers. The distribution of HLA antigens were equal in the 2 groups

Peri-urban development : analysis in Kungens kurva

Genom att testa tre olika analysmetoder, och med hjälp av aktuell litteratur, studeras utvecklingspotentialen i det peri-urbana landskapet. I gränszonen mellan det urbana och det rurala finns ett landskap som känns igen genom dess industrier, shoppingcentrum och stora vägar. I dessa områden förkommer s.k. ickeplatser, som kan hittas mellan olika bebyggelseenklaver, på rivningstomter eller på f.d. parkeringar. Ickeplatserna är sällan gestaltade, men är trots det ofta komplexa och innehåller en mängd olika funktioner. Den svenska planeringstraditionen av att dela in landskapet i stad och land har gjort att dessa områden länge ignorerats. Forskare och yrkesverksamma föreslår att planeraren vid utvecklingen av det peri-urbana landskapet ska ta hänsyn till komplexiteten. Genom att beskriva informella värden och aktiviteter kan ett grepp om helheten tas. Med utgångspunkt i det peri-urbana området Kungens kurva i Huddinge kommun, söder om Stockholm, testas tre olika analyser för att undersöka hur pass relevanta de är i utvecklandet av det peri-urbana landskapet. Analysmetoderna som används i studien är Space analysis, the 12 key quality criteria utarbetad av Gehl arkitekter, den Kvalitativa Stedsanalysen med utgångspunkt i Norberg-Schulz fenomenologiska teori och en Study of self-analys baserad på egen erfarenhet av platsen. Studien visar att de analysmetoder som används i Kungens kurva skiljer sig från de metoder forskare och yrkesverksamma föreslår men att de ändå har en viss användbarhet. Den Kvalitativa Stedsanalysen är den metod av de tre som är mest användbar. Analysen beskriver helheten och försöker hitta platsens identitet utifrån dess egna förutsättningar. Study of self-analysen blir relevant som komplement till andra analysmetoder. då den har fördelen av att kunna beskriva platsers informella användning och värden. Space Analysis, the 12 key quality criteria, är minst relevant men kan fungera för att identifiera brister, om rätt premisser är ställda

Hur landskapsarkitektur kan bidra till att skapa meningsfulla rum i utemiljön kring köpcentrum

I detta examensarbete undersöks hur landskapsarkitektur kan bidra till att skapa meningsfulla rum i utemiljön kring köpcentrum. På 50 och 60-talet planerades Stockholms tunnelbaneförorter enligt grannskapsidealen där centrumen utgjorde stadsdelens mittpunkt eller hjärta som skulle serva och samla befolkningen som bor runtom. Centrumet var en plats för möten, byggd i demokratins anda där service och handel skulle vara lätt att nå och ligga centralt i stadsdelen. Idag, i många av Stockholms ytterstadsdelar har denna cirkelns mitt, stadsdelscentrumets hjärta, kommit att innehålla ett köpcentrum där både butiker, restauranger, upplevelser, torgmiljöer och ofta bibliotek samt läkarmottagning finns samlande under ett och samma tak. Köpcentrum har sen 70-talet och framåt blivit allt vanligt förekommande i Stockholms ytterstadsområden där samma problematik och kritik, nu som vid tiden då de första inomhuscentrumen byggdes, återkommer. Funktioner som är vända inåt, storskalighet och likriktning i köpcentrumsarkitekturen är några exempel. Köpcentrumet anpassar sitt utbud och sin arkitektur i första hand efter kundens behov, där ökade intäkter är drivkraften i utvecklingen. Vid sidan av detta utgör centrumområdena lika mycket nu som då, en livsmiljö för den lokala befolkningen där köpcentrumet är del av en stads-eller tätortsbebyggelse. I uppsatsen ställs frågan hur den fysiska miljön i och intill köpcentrum, kan gestaltas så bra som möjligt, med hänsyn till både kundens och den lokala befolkningens behov samt efter det kontext som stadsdelen är belägen i. För att genomföra studien beskrivs kortfattat Stockholms centrumhistoria genom en tidslinje, som illustration av ideal för svenskt stadsbyggande sedan 1940-talet. Detta åtföljs av en litteraturstudie där forskning från några olika ämnestraditioner som tar upp fenomenet köpcentrum ur olika perspektiv, beskrivs. För att få kunskap om användningen av köpcentrum men också för att hitta exempel på gestalter i den byggda miljön som på olika sätt är förebildliga, genomförs undersökningar av sju platser som på olika sätt berör gestaltningen av utemiljöer intill köpcentrum. Litteraturstudien och undersökningarna omtolkas och konkretiseras för att kunna tillämpas i ett designförslag för Vårby gård centrum i Huddinge kommun, söder om Stockholm- en stadsdel byggd på 70-talet innehållande ett mindre köpcentrum med en central placering i stadsdelen. Genom konkreta exempel visas hur gestaltning av miljöer intill köpcentrum och hur köpcentrumens lokala inplacering i ett stadsdelscentrum kan ha betydelse för i vilken grad utemiljön upplevs som centrumens mittpunkt och hur integrerad köpcentrumet är i sin omgivning. Arbetet kan fungera som en idésamling för hur utemiljöer intill köpcentrum kan behandlas och för vilka möjligheter landskapsarkitekturen kan erbjuda i upprustningen miljonprogramscentrum i Sverige.This master thesis examines how landscape architecture can help to create meaningful places, in the outdoor areas that surround shopping centres. In the 50s and 60s the neighbourhood planning was dominant in the design of Stockholm’s suburbs. Centres were planned out of democratical ideals where the midpoint of the neighbourhood was intended to be a place to gather- for social activities, for shopping and for service purposes. The centre was centrally located and planned to be easily accessed. Today, many of these centres contain shopping malls where elements that normally is related to streets and public life; shops, restaurants, public spaces, different types of experiences, libraries and health care, are placed within the shopping centre. Shopping centres have since the 70s and onwards been increasingly popular common and often occurs in Stockholm outer neighbourhoods. Functions turned inwards that creates unpleasant backsides, large scale architecture and standardization in the mall architecture, all affects the public life and are problem and criticism, that relates to shopping centres from 70s as well as to modern ones. In the offering and architecture, shopping centres adapt to the customers’ needs, in order to get the economy growing steadily. Alongside this, the neighbourhood in where the shopping centre is located, is as much now as then, part of a city district and a living environments for the residents in the neighbourhood. How the design of the physical environment could be made as good as possible, with respect to customer, the inhabitants’ needs and the neighbourhoods context are the underlying issue that is the purpose for this study. To illustrate the ideals of urban planning in Stockholm since the 1940s and onwards, a timeline that briefly describes the Stockholm centre history is presented. This is followed by a literature study where research from a few different research areas that from different perspectives addresses the phenomenon shopping centres. Investigations on seven different places are conducted in order to gain knowledge on the use of outdoor areas that surrounds the mall. The aim is to find solutions in the built environment that in different ways are exemplary. The knowledge from literature review and survey is reinterpreted to be applied in a design proposal for Vårby gård centrum in Huddinge, south of Stockholm. Vårby gård is a neighbourhood built in the 70s containing a small shopping mall with a central position in the neighbourhood. Through concrete examples the study shows how design of areas that surrounds the shopping centres and the shopping centres location in the neighbourhood centre, could affect to what extent the outdoor areas are perceived as the neighbourhoods midpoint and how integrated the shopping centre is in its surrounding. All in all, the thesis with its collection of ideas, could function as inspiration, on how to design outdoor areas adjacent to shopping centres. Apart from that the study shows landscape architecture could offer many possibilities in the renovation of the million program centres

Link Between Redemption of a Medical Food Pantry Voucher and Reduced Hospital Readmissions

This study investigated the relationship between redeeming a voucher at hospital-based Medical Food Pantry (MFP) and hospital readmissions in Greenville, NC. Admitted patients at Vidant Medical Center identified as food insecure were given a voucher to the MFP. A retrospective chart review identified demographic information, type of insurance, voucher provision, and redemption dates, food bag type and number of subsequent hospital readmissions for all patients issued a voucher (n = 542) between June 21, 2018 and July 1, 2019. Negative binomial regression analysis assessed the relationship between readmissions and voucher redemption. Sixty percent of patients receiving a voucher were minority (African American) with an average age of 55. Nearly half (48 percent) had Medicare. Thirty-eight percent of those vouchers that were issued were redeemed, usually within five days. Regression results indicate that the number of readmissions was higher among women and non-whites in the sample relative to men and whites. Those patients who redeemed a food voucher had a seven percent lower likelihood of being readmitted (CI, 0.05–0.27). Food insecure patients who redeemed MFP vouchers had a comparatively lower likelihood of subsequent readmissions. These findings suggest that programs targeting modifiable social determinants of health like food insecurity could improve health outcomes and reduce utilization of the healthcare system

Antimicrobial Activity of Human Prion Protein Is Mediated by Its N-Terminal Region

BACKGROUND: Cellular prion-related protein (PrP(c)) is a cell-surface protein that is ubiquitously expressed in the human body. The multifunctionality of PrP(c), and presence of an exposed cationic and heparin-binding N-terminus, a feature characterizing many antimicrobial peptides, made us hypothesize that PrP(c) could exert antimicrobial activity. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Intact recombinant PrP exerted antibacterial and antifungal effects at normal and low pH. Studies employing recombinant PrP and N- and C-terminally truncated variants, as well as overlapping peptide 20mers, demonstrated that the antimicrobial activity is mediated by the unstructured N-terminal part of the protein. Synthetic peptides of the N-terminus of PrP killed the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as the fungus Candida parapsilosis. Fluorescence studies of peptide-treated bacteria, paired with analysis of peptide effects on liposomes, showed that the peptides exerted membrane-breaking effects similar to those seen after treatment with the "classical" human antimicrobial peptide LL-37. In contrast to LL-37, however, no marked helix induction was detected for the PrP-derived peptides in presence of negatively charged (bacteria-mimicking) liposomes. PrP furthermore showed an inducible expression during wounding of human skin ex vivo and in vivo, as well as stimulation of keratinocytes with TGF-alpha in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: The demonstration of an antimicrobial activity of PrP, localisation of its activity to the N-terminal and heparin-binding region, combined with results showing an increased expression of PrP during wounding, indicate that PrPs could have a previously undisclosed role in host defense

Development of a liquid-liquid extraction method of resveratrol from cell culture media using solubility parameters

YesThe extraction of bioactive compounds, produced by plant cell cultures, directly from their culture medium, which contains other by-products, is a great challenge. Resveratrol extraction from its grapevine cell cultures is considered here as an example to improve the extraction processes from plant cell cultures using solubility parameters. Successive liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) processes were exploited to extract resveratrol from the culture medium with an extraction ratio approaching 100%, high selectivity and minimum amounts of solvents. The calculations of partition coefficients as a function of solubility parameters demonstrated that benzyl benzoate is the most suitable intermediate solvent to extract resveratrol from its aqueous medium. The calculations also illustrated the high ability of methanol and ethanol to extract resveratrol from benzyl benzoate. The physicochemical properties of benzyl benzoate and processing conditions were exploited to separate it from aqueous media and organic solvents. The agitation method, component ratios and extraction time were studied to maximize the extraction yield. Under the best studied conditions, the recovery of resveratrol from different culture media approached ∼100% with a selectivity of ∼92%. Ultimately, the improved extraction processes of resveratrol are markedly efficient, selective, rapid and economical.Mohammad Amin Mohammad gratefully acknowledges CARA (The Council for At-Risk Academics, Stephen Wordsworth and Ryan Mundy) for providing the financial support for an academic fellowship

Miscellany

Art Writings I Believe Roy F. Powell Awardshttps://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/miscell/1002/thumbnail.jp