Architecture for Housing: Multi-Function Transitional Space of Housing in China

This dissertation defines and develops transitional space of housing, which is adaptable to the Chinese environment. It is the integration of community, culture element and sustainable development. Although the lifestyle is changing today, the concept of courtyard which comes from the Chinese vernacular building remains in peoples’ minds. It’s not only a form but also an expression of national culture and a sense of space. There are some attempts for Chinese architects to renovate or reconstruct the “courtyard”, but most of them are low-rise buildings. Facing with the high density, high volume urban living environment, Chinese architects only set vii the first floor yard and roof garden in multi-story or high-rise buildings. To improve the community environment, various levels courtyard space, such as the courtyard among units, community courtyard, are set. These courtyards are regarded as public space which not only plays the role of landscaping but also make people feel comfortable. However, there are still some problems, such as sustainable development, privacy. While there are some good attempts for foreign architects to design courtyard in terms of sustainable technology, the housing they design lack the Chinese culture character. So the design of multi-function transitional space raises the interesting questions for future research and development

Gazing Through the World - A 5 Tracks Album about the Sound Around the World

This project aims to combine modern music with various elements to show the new possibilities of musical storytelling of the world we are living in. Within five tracks of pieces written in different styles and themes breaking and blending among genres into one album, this project tests the boundary of the capacity of music and sound, discussing human and nature, light and darkness, philosophy and logic, time and space, all through her lenses of seeing the world. The album is creates with the artist’s skills of songwriting, digital producing, hybrid recordings, and mixing with sampling and live recording, immersive audio mixing. Features genres cross contemporary music, electronic music, futurism, minimalism, pop, rock, and various ethnic and world music styles.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1291/thumbnail.jp

Variational inverse methods for transport problems

Variational inverse data assimilation schemes are developed for three types of parameter identification problems in transport models: (1) the tracer inverse for the Lagrangian mean transport velocity in a long-term advection-diffusion transport model; (2) determination of inflow salinity open boundary condition in an intra-tidal salinity transport model; and (3) determination of settling velocity and resuspension rate for a cohesive sediment transport model. The gradient of the cost function with respect to the control variables is obtained by the adjoint model. A series of twin experiments are conducted to test the inverse models for the three types of problems. Results show that variational data assimilation can successfully retrieve poorly known parameters in transport models. The first problem is associated with the long-term advective transport, represented by the Lagrangian mean transport velocity which can be decomposed into two parts: the Eulerian transport velocity and the curl of a 3-D vector potential A. The optimal long-term advective transport field is obtained through adjusting the vector potential using a variational data assimilation method. Experiments are performed in an idealized estuary. Results show that the variational data assimilation method can successfully retrieve the effective Lagrangian mean transport velocity in a long-term transport model. Results also show that the smooth best fit model state can still be retrieved using a penalty method when observations are too sparse or contain noisy signals. A variational inverse model for optimally determining open boundary condition is developed and tested in a 3-D intra-tidal salinity transport model. The maximum inflow salinity open boundary value and its recovery time from outflow condition are treated as control variables. Effects of scaling, preconditioning, and penalty are investigated. It is shown that proper scaling and preconditioning can greatly speed up the convergence rate of the minimization process. The spatial oscillations in the recovery time of the inflow boundary condition can be effectively eliminated by an penalty technique. A variational inverse model is developed to estimate the settling velocity and resuspension constant. The settling velocity &w\sb{lcub}s{rcub}& and resuspension constant &M\sb{lcub}o{rcub}& are assumed to be constant in the whole model domain. The inverse model is tested in an idealized 3-D estuary and the James River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Experimental results demonstrate that the variational inverse model can be used to identify the poorly known parameters in cohesive sediment transport modeling

Compound xiebai capsule alleviates pulmonary vascular remodeling in monocrotaline-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension in rats

Purpose: To investigate the effect of compound xiebai capsule (CXC) on pulmonary arterial vascular remodeling in a rat model of monocrotaline-mediated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).Methods: PAH model was established through intraperitoneal injection of MCT (60 mg/kg) to male Sprague-Dawley rats. Thereafter, the rats were grouped and treated with saline (control), nifedipine at a dose of 0.02 g/kg/day (positive control), or different doses of CXC (0.67, 1.00 and 1.32 g/kg/day). The effect of treatments on PAH were determined by measurement of hemodynamic indices and right ventricular hypertrophy index (RVHI). Pathological features and ultrastructure of the lung tissue were examined by H & E staining and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Immunohistochemistry was employed to determine the expressions of proliferation-associated protein and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Western blotting was applied to assay the expressions of apoptotic pathway proteins.Results: CXC treatment decreased the levels of hemodynamic parameters in PAH rats, alleviated RVHI, improved pulmonary vascular remodeling, decreased vascular wall thickness and area (WT and WA), downregulated the expression of PCNA, and enhanced the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins (cytochrome C, caspase-3, and caspase-9).Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate the effect of CXC on vascular remodeling in PAH. The results indicate that CXC markedly reversed the deleterious changes in PAH-induced rat model. Keywords: Pulmonary arterial hypertension, Pulmonary vascular remodeling, Caspase, Cytochrome C, Apoptosis, Compound xiebai capsul

The importance analysis of expert diagnosis indexes in the safety evaluation of concrete dam

The influencing factors on the evaluation of concrete dam safety are rather complex, which can be divided into quantitative indexes and qualitative indexes and has the characteristic of fuzziness and uncertainty. Expert diagnosis provides positive effect in the comprehensive evaluation of concrete dam safety, and the evaluation result rely on the experiences and wisdom of experts. The importance analysis of experts in the safety evaluation of concrete dams was performed to have fine evaluation result. Subjective expert important analysis model and objective expert importance model were established, and then the interactive objectivity and subjectivity importance analysis model was established. In the end, there proposed models were performed in the safety evaluation of a concrete dam, and the models were verified to be effective in the importance analysis of experts in the evaluation of concrete dam safety

Special issue:Wave and tidal resource characterization

The papers that were initially presented in the Marine Renewable Energy: Resource Characterization, Environmental Impacts, and Societal Interactions session at the 2016 AGU/ASLO/TOS Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans, USA, on 2/21-26/2016, are highlighted.The wave and tidal resource of Scotland, a nation that has been instrumental in the progress of the industry due to its energetic resource, and the foundation of the European Marine Energy Centre that has become a template for other test centers throughout the world, are discussed. Country-scale wave and tidal resource assessments from two contrasting continents, the Uruguayan shelf seas and within the context of post-Fukushima, Japan, are considered. A number of tidal stream resource assessments, discussing the tidal resource of the Bosphorus, Puget Sound, the Massachusetts coast, Rathlin Sound in Northern Ireland, and the famous Pentland Firth is provided

Genome-wide identification and evolutionary analyses of the PP2C gene family with their expression profiling in response to multiple stresses in Brachypodium distachyon

Expression pattern of duplication BdPP2C genes under biotic/abiotic stresses and phytohormone treatments. (TIF 9276 kb

Characterizing Tidal Stream Energy Resource in the Salish Sea

The Salish Sea has been identified as one of the top hotspots in the US for tidal stream energy development because of the presence of strong tidal currents in many tidal channels. To characterize the tidal stream energy resource, high-resolution and accurate current data are required. This presentation describes the development of a high-resolution tidal hydrodynamic model to support tidal stream energy development in the Salish Sea. The numerical model was based on the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model using the unstructured-grid framework. The model was validated using data derived from 10 real-time tidal gauges and 132 historical ADCP stations. A total of 16 tidal channels with strong currents were identified as hotspots for potential tidal energy development in the Salish Sea. Probability distributions and exceedance of the cross-channel average velocity were calculated at all 16 channels based on international standards for tidal energy resource characterization. The tidal energy resource at the 16 hotspots was also characterized using power density distributions and kinetic energy fluxes. The ranking of the kinetic energy fluxes suggested that Admiralty Inlet, Rosario Strait, and Middle Channel are the top three tidal energy hotspots in the Salish Sea. Because of the model covers the entire Salish Sea with extensive model validation, results from this modeling effort can also be used to support other estuarine applications such as effect of sea level rise, climate change and coastal community resilience