1,080 research outputs found
Never-Land | A Parasitic and Accumulative Approach to Urbanization in China
Ever since 1960s, European situationist and Japanese metabolist architects constantly reject the uniformity and totalitarian of modern architecture/urban design, seeking parasitic and dynamic approaches to post-war urbanization. Projects such as the Plug-In City and the Tokyo Bay dream of alternative urban scenarios by reversing traditional perceptions of infrastructure’s role in the city, combining architecture, technology and society together. However, these megastructure projects not only neglect the existing urban context but also lack political and economic driving force. As a result, they are considered utopian by many contemporary critics.
Fifty years later in China, fast urbanization process creates problems for both cities and people live in them. On one hand, massive construction sites create urban voids, disrupting the city’s identity. On the other hand, migrant workers get excluded from city’s social life, living a dystopian lifestyle. However, China’s centralized government and booming construction market provide strong political and economic support for a revolutionary urban experimentation, while the omnipresent construction sites and migrant workers offer appropriate location, labor and social requirement for an alternative architectural implementation. It is time to have a retrospective view at the idea of parasitic urbanism back in the 60s, readjusting it and applying it to current situation in China.
The thesis re-imagines the operation and impact of construction sites under fast urbanization in China, by studying the live + work practices of migrant construction workers. The thesis criticizes the existing introverted “W all + Hut” construction paradigm, proposing an adaptable architectural structure around construction sites, which provides spatially an alternativ e urban nomad lifestyle for Chinese construction workers, and in return reconstruct the urban experience in China based on the increasing demand for migrant-dwellings and omnipresent construction sites
Pathogenic Roles of MicroRNA in the Development of Asthma
Asthma is a common and chronic inflammatory disease. Pathogenic mechanism underlying asthma is complicated. The inflammatory reactions in asthma have been recognized to involve mast cells, eosinophils, lymphocytes (T cells, B cells), macrophages, and dendritic cells. MicroRNA (miRNA, miR) is a group of small noncoding RNAs with 21–25 nucleotides (nt) in length, which impact biologic responses through the regulation of mRNA transcription and/or translation. MicroRNAs are related to developmental processes of many immunologic diseases. Most studies showed that regulation of miRNAs to their targeting genes appears to play an important role in the development of asthma. This chapter has discussed altered expression of miRNAs in cells and tissues from patients with asthma, in order to better understand the mechanics of pathogenesis of asthma. In addition, the regulation of miRNAs as a novel therapeutic approach will require a deeper understanding of their function and mechanism of action
Manipulation of magnetic topological textures via perpendicular strain and polarization in van der Waals magnetoelectric heterostructure
Multi-functional manipulation of magnetic topological textures such as
skyrmions and bimerons in energy-efficient ways is of great importance for
spintronic applications, but still being a big challenge. Here, by
first-principles calculations and atomistic simulations, the creation and
annihilation of skyrmions/bimerons, as key operations for the reading and
writing of information in spintronic devices, are achieved in van der Waals
magnetoelectric CrISe/In2Se3 heterostructure via perpendicular strain or
electric field without external magnetic field. Besides, the bimeron-skyrmion
conversion, size modulation and the reversible magnetization switching from
in-plane to out-of-plane could also be realized in magnetic-field-free ways.
Moreover, the topological charge and morphology can be precisely controlled by
a small magnetic field. The strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and
tunable magnetic anisotropy energy in a wide window are found to play vital
roles in such energy efficient multi-functional manipulation, and the
underlying physical mechanisms are elucidated. Our work predicts the
CrISe/In2Se3 heterostructure being an ideal platform to address this challenge
in spintronic applications, and theoretically guides the low-dissipation
multi-functional manipulation of magnetic topological textures.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Frustration-induced magnetic bimerons in transition metal halide CoX2 (X = Cl, Br) monolayers
With the field of two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials expanding rapidly,
noncollinear topological magnetic textures in 2D materials are attracting
growing interest recently. As the in-plane counterpart of magnetic skyrmions,
magnetic bimerons have the same topological advantages, but are rarely observed
in experiments. Employing first-principles calculations and Monte Carlo
simulations, we predict that the centrosymmetric transition metal halide CoX2
(X = Cl, Br) monolayers can be promising candidates for observing the
frustration-induced bimerons. These bimerons crystallize into stable triangular
lattice under an appropriate magnetic field. Compared to the skyrmions driven
by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction or the long-ranged magnetic
dipole-dipole interactions, these frustration-induced bimerons have much
smaller size and flexible tunability. Furthermore, the biaxial strain provides
an effective method to tune the frustration and thereby to tune the bimeron
lattice. In detail, for CoCl2 monolayer, tensile strain can be applied to
generate bimeron lattice, further shrink bimeron size and increase the density
of bimerons. For CoBr2 monolayer with inherent bimeron lattice state, a unique
orientation rotation of bimeron lattice controlled by compressive strain is
predicted.Comment: 14 pages,6 figure
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