The Materials’ Catch Dream-Thinking for Architects

Materials appear to be the stuff architects day-dream about, experiment and work with in architecture studios, building sites, prototyping labs. In both design and make, materials’ specifications, their properties and performance are always an issue of much consideration that requires solid technical knowledge and thoughtful decisions. But what if materials were to be thought neither as inert entities that architects manipulate for their clients to use and check in post-occupancy evaluations, nor just as matter whose properties are to be tamed to appease architectural obsessions and then offered to colleagues (and theorists) for contemplation? This text experiments with ways of thinking about or ‘together’ with materials. To do so, it takes a dream-ride to different cities to recall instances of intense personal attachments with architecture matter, two of which belong to the specific temporal category of the bygone. Architecture ruins and materials of urban pasts are of particular interest as they seem to set up catches that allure and captivate in a visceral way. Such an ‘unmediated’ encounter with materials has unpredictable consequences that undermine the ‘meet the eye/touch the ear/hit the brain’ beaten path of recounting experiences of architecture’s past in our cities. Unsurprisingly, capricious side-effects emerge as soon as the process of thinking drops its academic respectability to open up to the delights of dreamthinking

The experience of space in relation to architecture in the Homeric epics

Is there a concept of space 'before' philosophy? The thesis addresses a question which is relevant to contemporary architectural theory but it attempts an answer through the examination of the Homeric text. The general relevance of this is because the Homeric text may be said to be historical antecedent to the development of philosophy. Therefore it provides the possibility for a different understanding of space. What makes the Homeric text a kind of text-case is that it predates the concept of space itself - in the sense of Platonic chora 'receptacle', that is, space as container. Our reading of the Homeric text is goverried by an attempt to reconstruct the possible experiences of spatial relations as they are conveyed by the Homeric discourse. The thesis concentrates upon central Homeric terms chore/os, domos, thure, megaron and thalamos, in order to analyse them in terms of the experiences of which they were an element. This involves a close analysis of the Homeric text. But this reading faces two major obstacles in the attempt to restore the historical and specific character of the Homeric categories. These two obstacles are different sides of the coin 'anachronism'. One major form of anachronism is to permit the philosophical definition of space and of architectural elements to define the Homeric relations whereas those relations actually predate and may be thought to be independent of philosophy. The second obstacle to this reading is aspects of philosophy which has systematically reduced the independence of the Homeric text by allowing terms to be defined by philosophy and then projected backwards as Homeric reading

Computer-assisted ex vivo, normothermic small bowel perfusion

Background: In the present study, a technique for computer-assisted, normothermic, oxygenated, ex vivo, recirculating small bowel perfusion was established as a tool to investigate organ pretreatment protocols and ischemia/reperfusion phenomena. A prerequisite for the desired setup was an organ chamber for ex vivo perfusion and the use of syngeneic whole blood as perfusate. Methods: The entire small bowel was harvested from Lewis rats and perfused in an organ chamber ex vivo for at least 2 h. The temperature was kept at 37 degrees C in a water bath. Three experimental groups were explored, characterized by different perfusion solutions. The basic perfusate consisted of syngeneic whole blood diluted with either NaCl, Krebs' solution or Krebs' solution and norepinephrine to a hematocrit of 30%. In addition, in each group l-glutamine was administered intraluminally. The desired perfusion pressure was 100 mm Hg which was kept constant with a computer-assisted data acquisition software, which measured an-line pressure, oxygenation, flow, temperature and pH and adjusted the pressure by changing the flow via a peristaltic pump. The viability of the preparation was tested by measuring oxygen consumption and maltose absorption, which requires intact enzymes of the mucosal brush border to break down maltose into glucose. Results: Organ perfusion in group 1 (dilution with NaCl) revealed problems such as hypersecretion into the bowel lumen, low vascular resistance and no maltose uptake. In contrast a viable organ could be demonstrated using Krebs' solution as dilution solution. The addition of norepinephrine led to an improved perfusion over the entire perfusion period. Maltose absorption was comparable to tests conducted with native small bower. Oxygen consumption was stable during the 2-hour perfusion period. Conclusions: The ex vivo perfusion system established enables small bowel perfusion for at least 2 h. The viability of the graft could be demonstrated. The perfusion time achieved is sufficient to study leukocyte/lymphocyte interaction with the endothelium of the graft vessels. In addition, a viable small bowel, after 2 h of ex vivo perfusion, facilitates testing of pretreatment protocols for the reduction of the immunogenicity of small bowel allografts. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

The New Pretender: A Large UK Case Series of Retinal Injuries in Children Secondary to Handheld Lasers

Purpose: To characterize a large single-center series of retinal injuries in children secondary to handheld laser devices, with emphasis on potential prognostic factors. / Design: Retrospective case series. / Methods: Sixteen children (24 eyes) with retinal injuries secondary to handheld lasers were identified from our electronic patient record system. Case notes, digital fundus photography, and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography images were reviewed. / Results: The mean age of affected children was 12.7 years (range 9–16 years), with 12 male and 4 female subjects. Mean follow up was 5.4 months (range 1–23 months). Five children (31%) were referred as suspected retinal dystrophies. The mean logMAR visual acuity at presentation was 0.30 (20/40) (range −0.20 [20/12.5] to 1.6 [20/800]). Eleven children (69%; 15 eyes) had “mild” injuries with focal retinal disruption confined to the photoreceptor and ellipsoid layers; such injuries were associated with a better prognosis, the mean visual acuity at presentation being 0.10 (20/25). “Moderate” injuries were seen in 3 eyes of 2 children, with retinal disruption confined to the outer retinal layer but diffuse rather than focal in nature. Three patients (4 eyes) had “severe” injuries, with subfoveal outer retinal architecture loss and overlying hyperreflective material in inner retinal layers. / Conclusion: Retinal injuries secondary to handheld laser devices may be difficult to diagnose and are likely underreported. It is important that such data are in the public domain, so regulatory authorities recognize the importance of laser retinopathy as an avoidable cause of childhood visual impairment and take steps to minimize the incidence and impact of laser injuries

The Death of Plants in Animals

It is necessary first to understand some of the basic concepts associated with the digestion of the plant biomass within the rumen when considering mechanisms for altering/enhancing N-conversion efficiency in the forage-fed ruminant. Although it is generally assumed that breakdown of plant proteins in the rumen is mediated by microbial enzymes, there is increasing evidence to suggest that both plant and microbial proteases are active during degradation of ingested fresh forage (Beha et al., 2002; Kingston-Smith & Theodorou, 2000; Kingston-Smith et al., 2003, 2004). After fresh plant biomass enters the rumen and prior to extensive plant cell wall degradation, there is often a phase of rapid proteolysis in excess of that needed to maintain the rumen microbial population and we now believe that plant enzymes largely mediate this initial proteolysis. Recent evidence also suggests a role for plant lipases in the rumen (Lee et al., 2003). An understanding of the mechanisms that underlie these processes is essential if we are to devise plant-based strategies to manipulate them. This paper presents a new rumen model which, by taking account of the plants biological attributes, provides us with a novel framework for describing the plant contribution to rumen function in grazing livestock