A configurational approach to vernacular domestic architecture: 'Traditional' Houses in Turkey, Japan and Britain

Most vernacular and traditional buildings are considered as 'timeless' meaning that their forms and styles are accepted as 'objects' that do not change over time. This leads to rigid definitions of domestic architecture by assigning definite cultural meanings to physical forms. While vernacular domestic spaces naturally represent the culture and society that they are constructed in, where these are interpreted in the light of fixed notions of 'culture' and 'tradition', the possibility that 'vernacular' does not necessarily mean 'timeless' or 'unchanging' is left unexplored. This paper re-examines the boundaries of nation-specific 'vernaculars' through a comparative cross-cultural analysis of traditional housing. It interrogates the use of notions such as 'culture' and 'tradition' in vernacular housing typologies in Turkey, Japan and Britain in order to provide a better understanding of 'the vernacular' as a dynamic concept in domestic architecture. It proposes a comparative interpretative framework for studying the vernacular by considering how the relationship between the social and spatial patterns is shaped under diverse regional and historical conditions. This approach raises questions for conventional definitions of the 'vernacular' by analysing similarities as well as differences between the different traditions. The research applies space syntax methodology to 30 different vernacular housing examples built between 17th and 19th centuries in different regions of Turkey, Japan and Britain, each held to represent the 'national' values and traditions of their particular culture. The results of the analysis show how the traditional typological approach to housing forms remains insufficient to fully understand vernacular architecture, since it tends to elide differences in social mores and the use of domestic space into a single 'vernacular' tradition. Overall, this study shows how the conventional classifications of vernacular architecture depending on cultural and national traditions do not go much beyond creating normative statements that are mainly taken for granted. By contrast, the research presented here proposes the 'vernacular' as a fluid, rather than a fixed description of national traditions of domestic architecture

Using an analytical process to contextualise architectural prototypes for metro stations

In order to meet the pressures of a growing population and employment base, a developing city in the Middle East is planning a new public transport system to allow its sustainable growth. Introducing a new mode of public transport to a city that has a complex urban structure and a dependency on car use necessitates specific design responses to inform the station design process. This paper focuses on a study at the micro scale level that addresses the impact of evidence-based design on contextualised architectural station prototypes. Furthermore, it addresses the processes of working with an architectural design office in creating dynamic design iterations. The research here is presented from a perspective of the process of iterative analytical study to real time projects, reflecting on the balance between academia and practice. In order to construct a set of design principles to station locations, three layers of potential movement patterns are analysed using agents based modelling: movement from station exits; movement towards station entrances and background movement generated through the spatial accessibility values of the surrounding context. In that respect, each prototype station has been contextualised to its unique site. Design proposals developed by architectural teams are informed through fine grain analysis of urban features such as pavement widths and signage locations. The analyses also inform the landscape design process through the positioning of street furniture in relation to potential movement patterns as well as the effect of shading and public realm quality through option testing. To integrate stations within their contexts they must have simple entrances and clear orientation from the points of exit. Overall, the dynamic nature of agent based modelling allows for rapid design feedback to occur permitting an iterative process of design development and optimisation

City planning using integrated urban modeling Jeddah structure plan

This paper explores the use of weighted space syntax models to contribute to the process of integrated urban planning for Jeddah as part of a major planning project in the Saudi Arabia. The Municipality of Jeddah commissioned the production of an integrated suite of planning documents. These plans coordinate Strategic, Sub-Regional, Structural and Local plans across a citywide region and aim to provide a framework for sustainable urban growth and development over the next 20 years. This paper focuses on the space syntax methodologies used to aid urban planners to develop the Structure Plan and builds on the research used to develop the Sub-Regional Plan (Karimi et al, 2015). The Structure Plan studied how the urban structure of the city could accommodate the growth of population by about three million over the next 20 years. This included developing and testing a centres strategy to distribute population, employment and supporting facilities along with a public transport strategy for the city. For analysing the potential and requirements of the city, an Integrated Urban Model (IUM) was constructed to combine the spatial network with land use, population, employment and public transport. The aim of this model was to test the impact of changes in the distribution of population and employment. It also allowed the assessment of public transport alignments. The IUM is a key design tool for planning and optimising the relationships between population, employment and public transport. It was also used to provide a benchmarking methodology to compare options. Because the model links people to employment using the spatial network and public transport, the performance of options can be expressed in terms of benefits to the city's population

Polylactic acid (PLA)/Silver-NP/VitaminE bionanocomposite electrospun nanofibers with antibacterial and antioxidant activity

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The antibacterial property of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) and the antioxidant activity of Vitamin E have been combined by incorporation of these two active components within polylactic acid (PLA) nanofibers via electrospinning (PLA/Ag-NP/VitaminE nanofibers). The morphological and structural characterizations of PLA/Ag-NP/VitaminE nanofibers were performed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The average fiber diameter was 140 ± 60 nm, and the size of the Ag-NP was 2.7 ± 1.5 nm. PLA/Ag-NP/VitaminE nanofibers inhibited growth of Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella typhymurium up to 100 %. The amount of released Ag ions from the nanofibers immersed in aqueous solution was determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, and it has been observed that the release of Ag ions was kept approximately constant after 10 days of immersion. The antioxidant activity of PLA/Ag-NP/VitaminE nanofibers was evaluated according to DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) method and determined as 94 %. The results of the tests on fresh apple and apple juice indicated that the PLA/Ag/VitaminE nanofiber membrane actively reduced the polyphenol oxidase activity. The multifunctional electrospun PLA nanofibers incorporating Ag-NP and Vitamin E may be quite applicable in food packaging due to the extremely large surface area of nanofibers along with antibacterial and antioxidant activities. These materials could find application in food industry as a potential preservative packaging for fruits and juices. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Testing timed systems modeled by stream X-machines

Stream X-machines have been used to specify real systems where complex data structures. They are a variety of extended finite state machine where a shared memory is used to represent communications between the components of systems. In this paper we introduce an extension of the Stream X-machines formalism in order to specify systems that present temporal requirements. We add time in two different ways. First, we consider that (output) actions take time to be performed. Second, our formalism allows to specify timeouts. Timeouts represent the time a system can wait for the environment to react without changing its internal state. Since timeous affect the set of available actions of the system, a relation focusing on the functional behavior of systems, that is, the actions that they can perform, must explicitly take into account the possible timeouts. In this paper we also propose a formal testing methodology allowing to systematically test a system with respect to a specification. Finally, we introduce a test derivation algorithm. Given a specification, the derived test suite is sound and complete, that is, a system under test successfully passes the test suite if and only if this system conforms to the specification

Bioactive peptide functionalized aligned cyclodextrin nanofibers for neurite outgrowth

Guidance of neurite extension and establishment of neural connectivity hold great importance for neural tissue regeneration and neural conduit implants. Although bioactive-epitope functionalized synthetic or natural polymeric materials have been proposed for the induction of neural regeneration, chemical modifications of these materials for neural differentiation still remain a challenge due to the harsh conditions of chemical reactions, along with non-homogeneous surface modifications. In this study, a facile noncovalent functionalization method is proposed by exploiting host-guest interactions between an adamantane-conjugated laminin derived bioactive IKVAV epitope and electrospun cyclodextrin nanofibers (CDNFs) to fabricate implantable scaffolds for peripheral nerve regeneration. While electrospun CDNFs introduce a three-dimensional biocompatible microenvironment to promote cellular viability and adhesion, the bioactive epitopes presented on the surface of electrospun CDNFs guide the cellular differentiation of PC-12 cells. In addition to materials synthesis and smart functionalization, physical alignment of the electrospun nanofibers guides the cells for enhanced differentiation. Cells cultured on aligned and IKVAV functionalized electrospun CDNFs had significantly higher expression of neuron-specific βIII-tubulin and synaptophysin. The neurite extension is also higher on the bioactive aligned scaffolds compared to random and non-functionalized electrospun CDNFs. Both chemical and physical cues were utilized for an effective neuronal differentiation process. © The Royal Society of Chemistry

Noncovalent functionalization of a nanofibrous network with a bio-inspired heavy metal binding peptide

Peptide-polymer nanofibrous networks can be developed to obtain hybrid systems providing both functionalities of peptides and stability and processability of the polymers. In this work, a bio-inspired heavy metal binding peptide was synthesized and noncovalently immobilized on water-insoluble electrospun hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin nanofibers (CDNF). The peptide functionalized hybrid nanofibers were able to bind to heavy metal ions and facilitated removal of metal ions from water. The peptide-polymer scavenging system has potential for development of further molecular recognition systems with various peptide sequences or host-guest inclusion complexes. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry

FACT sets a barrier for cell fate reprogramming in Caenorhabditis elegans and human cells

The chromatin regulator FACT (facilitates chromatin transcription) is essential for ensuring stable gene expression by promoting transcription. In a genetic screen using Caenorhabditis elegans, we identified that FACT maintains cell identities and acts as a barrier for transcription factor-mediated cell fate reprogramming. Strikingly, FACT's role as a barrier to cell fate conversion is conserved in humans as we show that FACT depletion enhances reprogramming of fibroblasts. Such activity is unexpected because FACT is known as a positive regulator of gene expression, and previously described reprogramming barriers typically repress gene expression. While FACT depletion in human fibroblasts results in decreased expression of many genes, a number of FACT-occupied genes, including reprogramming-promoting factors, show increased expression upon FACT depletion, suggesting a repressive function of FACT. Our findings identify FACT as a cellular reprogramming barrier in C. elegans and humans, revealing an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for cell fate protection

Age- and region-specific hepatitis B prevalence in Turkey estimated using generalized linear mixed models: a systematic review

Toy M, Önder FO, Wörmann T, et al. Age- and region-specific hepatitis B prevalence in Turkey estimated using generalized linear mixed models: a systematic review. BMC infectious diseases. 2011;11(1): 337.BACKGROUND: To provide a clear picture of the current hepatitis B situation, the authors performed a systematic review to estimate the age- and region-specific prevalence of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in Turkey. METHODS: A total of 339 studies with original data on the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in Turkey and published between 1999 and 2009 were identified through a search of electronic databases, by reviewing citations, and by writing to authors. After a critical assessment, the authors included 129 studies, divided into categories: 'age-specific'; 'region-specific'; and 'specific population group'. To account for the differences among the studies, a generalized linear mixed model was used to estimate the overall prevalence across all age groups and regions. For specific population groups, the authors calculated the weighted mean prevalence. RESULTS: The estimated overall population prevalence was 4.57, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.58, 5.76, and the estimated total number of CHB cases was about 3.3 million. The outcomes of the age-specific groups varied from 2.84, (95% CI: 2.60, 3.10) for the 0-14-year olds to 6.36 (95% CI: 5.83, 6.90) in the 25-34-year-old group. CONCLUSION: There are large age-group and regional differences in CHB prevalence in Turkey, where CHB remains a serious health problem

Treatment of two postoperative endophthalmitis cases due to Aspergillus flavus and Scopulariopsis spp. with local and systemic antifungal therapy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endophthalmitis is the inflammatory response to invasion of the eye with bacteria or fungi. The incidence of endophthalmitis after cataract surgery varies between 0.072–0.13 percent. Treatment of endophthalmitis with fungal etiology is difficult.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p><b>Case 1: </b>A 71-year old male diabetic patient developed postoperative endophthalmitis due to <it>Aspergillus flavus</it>. The patient was treated with topical amphotericin B ophthalmic solution, intravenous (IV) liposomal amphotericin-B and caspofungin following vitrectomy.</p> <p><b>Case 2: </b>A 72-year old male cachectic patient developed postoperative endophthalmitis due to <it>Scopulariopsis </it>spp. The patient was treated with topical and IV voriconazole and caspofungin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>Aspergillus </it>spp. are responsible of postoperative fungal endophthalmitis. Endophthalmitis caused by <it>Scopulariopsis </it>spp. is a very rare condition. The two cases were successfully treated with local and systemic antifungal therapy.</p