Generation of Architectural Form: Standardization and Adaptation

“The form of an object is a diagram of forces; in this sense, at least, that from it we can judge or deduce the forces that are acting or have acted upon it; in this strict and particular sense, it is a diagram.” –D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, On Growth and Form Throughout architectural history, architects have made efforts to develop a diversity and efficiency of form to adapt to the natural environment. A prominent issue that has developed from this is what are the factors that have influenced and become form generators? D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, in On Growth and Form, describes how nature creates a great diversity of forms from an inventory of basic elements. According to Thompson, every creature is formed in accordance with a response to the actions that of natural force. “In short, the form of an object is a diagram of force.”1 In other words, the formative processes in natural structures are normally governed by ‘least-energy’ responses such as honeycomb structure and poppy seed surface. The premise that form is a diagram of force can also be applied to architectural form and structure. In architectural terms, a force may be considered as any factor which may affect any given form. Peter Pearce, in Structure in Nature is a Strategy for Design, points out that there are two forces, intrinsic forces and extrinsic forces which act on the making of the form. He claims that intrinsic forces are those governing factors which are inherent in any particular system. Conversely, extrinsic forces are those governing influences which are external to any particular architectural system. He further maintains that “All forms in nature are determined by the interaction of intrinsic with extrinsic forces.”2 Therefore, architectural form also should be expressed to the reciprocal action of intrinsic force and extrinsic force. This thesis raises issues regarding standardization and adaption in the making of architectural form. In the context, standardization is mainly related to intrinsic forces in that standardization makes systems which are efficient in their use of natural materials and energy resources. Adaptation is mainly connected with extrinsic forces to allow the diversity of form to develop in accordance with the built environment. Therefore, through the standardization and adaptation, architectural form should be accomplished the state of the equilibrium. In this thesis, I am exploring a new methodology of the generation of architectural form based on the process of standardization and adaptation. 1 Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth, On growth and form. Cambridge, Eng.: University Press, 1961. P.16 2 Pearce, Peter. Structure in nature is a strategy for design. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1978. p.x

Raoultella ornithinolytica in a healthy, young person: rapidly progressive sinusitis with orbital and intracranial involvement

Raoultella ornithinolytica is an encapsulated, Gram-negative, nonmotile, rod belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family. Infections involving the gastrointestinal tract and the hepatopancreatobiliary system are most frequently reported, especially in immunocompromised patients. The authors present an unusual case of acute complicated sinusitis with orbital and intracranial involvement caused by R. ornithinolytica. The infection was rapidly progressive, even though the patient was a healthy, young person without any co-morbidities. The patient’s condition improved after antibiotic treatment and multiple ophthalmic and sinus surgeries

Reversible Plasticity of Fear Memory-Encoding Amygdala Synaptic Circuits Even after Fear Memory Consolidation

It is generally believed that after memory consolidation, memory-encoding synaptic circuits are persistently modified and become less plastic. This, however, may hinder the remaining capacity of information storage in a given neural circuit. Here we consider the hypothesis that memory-encoding synaptic circuits still retain reversible plasticity even after memory consolidation. To test this, we employed a protocol of auditory fear conditioning which recruited the vast majority of the thalamic input synaptic circuit to the lateral amygdala (T-LA synaptic circuit; a storage site for fear memory) with fear conditioning-induced synaptic plasticity. Subsequently the fear memory-encoding synaptic circuits were challenged with fear extinction and re-conditioning to determine whether these circuits exhibit reversible plasticity. We found that fear memory-encoding T-LA synaptic circuit exhibited dynamic efficacy changes in tight correlation with fear memory strength even after fear memory consolidation. Initial conditioning or re-conditioning brought T-LA synaptic circuit near the ceiling of their modification range (occluding LTP and enhancing depotentiation in brain slices prepared from conditioned or re-conditioned rats), while extinction reversed this change (reinstating LTP and occluding depotentiation in brain slices prepared from extinguished rats). Consistently, fear conditioning-induced synaptic potentiation at T-LA synapses was functionally reversed by extinction and reinstated by subsequent re-conditioning. These results suggest reversible plasticity of fear memory-encoding circuits even after fear memory consolidation. This reversible plasticity of memory-encoding synapses may be involved in updating the contents of original memory even after memory consolidation

Concert recording 2018-02-20a

[Track 1]. Fünf Orchesterlieder nach Ansichtenkartentexten von Peter Altenberg, op. 4. I. Seele, wie bist du schöner... [Track 2]. II. Sahst du nach dem Gewitterregen [Track 3]. III. Über die Grenzen des All [Track 4]. IV. Nichts ist gekommen [Track 5]. V. Hier ist Friede / Alban Berg -- [Track 6]. Flowers of heaven. Three songs on Korean poetry for soprano and cello. I. The home village [Track 7]. II. Wildflowers of the mountain [Track 8]. III. Return to heaven / Robert Mueller -- [Track 9]. Buru for voice and chamber ensemble / Suhki Kang -- [Track 10]. Little sketches for soprano and flute / Ivan Elezovic -- [Track 11]. Labyrinth of love for soprano and small chamber ensemble. II. Eros (Sappho fragment 47) [Track 12]. VI. Liz\u27s lament [Track 13]. VIII. Short talk on the sensation of aeroplane takeoff / Michael Daugherty

Variable number tandem repeat analysis of Mycobacterium bovis isolates from Gyeonggi-do, Korea

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a major zoonosis that's caused by Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis). Being able to detect M. bovis is important to control bovine TB. We applied a molecular technique, the variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) typing method, to identify and distinguish the M. bovis isolates from Gyeonggi-do, Korea. From 2003 to 2004, 59 M. bovis clinical strains were isolated from dairy cattle in Gyeonggi-do, Korea, and these cattle had tuberculosis-like lesions. Twenty-four published MIRU-VNTR markers were applied to the M. bovis isolates and ten of them showed allelic diversity. The most discriminatory locus for the M. bovis isolates in Korea was QUB 3336 (h = 0.64). QUB 26 and MIRU 31 also showed high discriminative power (h = 0.35). The allelic diversity by the combination of all VNTR loci was 0.86. Six loci (MIRU 31, ETR-A and QUB-18, -26, -3232, -3336) displayed valuable allelic diversity. Twelve genotypes were identified from the 59 M. bovis isolates that originated from 20 cattle farms that were dispersed throughout the region of Gyenggi-do. Two genotypes [designation index (d.i.) = e, g] showed the highest prevalence (20% of the total farms). For the multiple outbreaks on three farms, two successive outbreaks were caused by the same genotype at two farms. Interestingly, the third outbreak at one farm was caused by both a new genotype and a previous genotype. In conclusion, this study suggests that MIRU-VNTR typing is useful to identify and distinguish the M. bovis isolates from Gyeonggi-do, Korea

Schematic of performance validation experiments setup for arc-jet tunnel part.

Schematic of performance validation experiments setup for arc-jet tunnel part.</p

Schematic of experimental details of combined test with cone model.

Schematic of experimental details of combined test with cone model.</p

Hot experimental technique with electrical heating device in impulse-type facility.

Hot experimental technique with electrical heating device in impulse-type facility.</p