386 research outputs found
Architectural self-fabrication
The paper will focus on the role of computational design and digital fabrication in the processes of urban and architectural self-regeneration of existing infrastructures and buildings. The Architectural Fabrication research agenda takes inspiration from some of the concepts mentioned in Christopher Alexander’s essay ‘Systems generating systems’ (1968). It aims at introducing ways in which systems thinking and computer aided manufacturing can be most directly applied to the built environment. Hacking architectural spaces, by evolving their genetic spatial and structural codes, is developing the idea of optimizing resources involving inhabitants rather than generating other top down architectural solutions. During the last decades (starting from the book of Mario Carpo, ‘The Digital Turn in Architecture’) the digital shift in architectural design has generated a new discipline with the aim to define an innovative way to bridge the notion of nature with the one of teknè. From such a cultural milieu many research agenda were focusing on the concepts of morphogenesis and evolutionary thinking inspired by the work of French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari based on the theory of complex systems. Despite this interest in bridging an evolutionary approach with the notion of emergent technologies in architecture (well described in the book ‘The Architecture of Emergence’ of Michael Weinstock) only a very few researchers have investigated on the potential of computational design as a driver for the ecological rehabilitation of existing infrastructures. As a matter of fact, the computational designers were so worried to claim for a new aesthetical identity of their discipline while a new opportunity was emerging for applying this evolutionary approach in order to hack existing structures. The idea of living infrastructures is related to the possibility of developing contextual algorithms in order to customize standard solutions with a post-human process that creates diversified spatial configurations out of very rigid organizational systems. Therefore, the paper will also talk about the Hacking Gomorra project as a possible paradigm of experimenting a 3D printing protocol for the environmental rehabilitation of a mega-structural housing building in Naples (Italy)
Rejection Properties of Stochastic-Resonance-Based Detectors of Weak Harmonic Signals
In (V. Galdi et al., Phys. Rev. E57, 6470, 1998) a thorough characterization
in terms of receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) of stochastic-resonance
(SR) detectors of weak harmonic signals of known frequency in additive gaussian
noise was given. It was shown that strobed sign-counting based strategies can
be used to achieve a nice trade-off between performance and cost, by comparison
with non-coherent correlators. Here we discuss the more realistic case where
besides the sought signal (whose frequency is assumed known) further unwanted
spectrally nearby signals with comparable amplitude are present. Rejection
properties are discussed in terms of suitably defined false-alarm and
false-dismissal probabilities for various values of interfering signal(s)
strength and spectral separation.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Misprints corrected. PACS numbers added. RevTeX
Charge density waves enhance the electronic noise of manganites
The transport and noise properties of Pr_{0.7}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3} epitaxial thin
films in the temperature range from room temperature to 160 K are reported. It
is shown that both the broadband 1/f noise properties and the dependence of
resistance on electric field are consistent with the idea of a collective
electrical transport, as in the classical model of sliding charge density
waves. On the other hand, the observations cannot be reconciled with standard
models of charge ordering and charge melting. Methodologically, it is proposed
to consider noise-spectra analysis as a unique tool for the identification of
the transport mechanism in such highly correlated systems. On the basis of the
results, the electrical transport is envisaged as one of the most effective
ways to understand the nature of the insulating, charge-modulated ground states
in manganites.Comment: 6 two-column pages, 5 figure
Global Solution to the Three-Dimensional Incompressible Flow of Liquid Crystals
The equations for the three-dimensional incompressible flow of liquid
crystals are considered in a smooth bounded domain. The existence and
uniqueness of the global strong solution with small initial data are
established. It is also proved that when the strong solution exists, all the
global weak solutions constructed in [16] must be equal to the unique strong
solution
Global existence of solutions to 2-D Navier-Stokes flow with non-decaying initial data in half-plane
We investigate the Navier-Stokes initial boundary value problem in the
half-plane with initial data
or with non decaying initial data . We introduce a technique that allows to solve the two-dimesional
problem, further, but not least, it can be also employed to obtain weak
solutions, as regards the non decaying initial data, to the three-dimensional
Navier-Stokes IBVP. This last result is the first of its kind
Experimental evidence of guided resonances in photonic crystals with aperiodically-ordered supercells
We report on the first experimental evidence of guided resonances (GRs) in
photonic crystal slabs based on aperiodically-ordered supercells. Using the
Ammann-Beenker (quasiperiodic, 8-fold symmetric) tiling geometry, we present
our study on the fabrication, experimental characterization, and full-wave
numerical simulation of two representative structures (with different filling
parameters) operating at near-infrared wavelengths (1300-1600 nm). Our results
show a fairly good agreement between measurements and numerical predictions,
and pave the way for the development of new strategies (based, e.g., on the
lattice symmetry breaking) for GR engineering.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures (minor revisions
Linking emissions trading systems with different offset provisions
There is a very large cost-effectiveness potential for the implementation of offsets under Emissions Trading Schemes (ETSs). The scientific literature highlights that heterogeneity in offset provisions between prospective partners in an ETS linkage should be addressed for the sake of linking, but is not regarded as a priority.Co-benefits of offset projects are typically insufficiently incentivised, while adverse impacts have been reported on the local communities. In general, the experience with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) can greatly inform offset provisions design. Experts at the Carbon Market Policy Dialogue share insights on the most successful offset provisions. The Paris Agreement and its Article 6 can foster ETS linking, but requires additional coordination by prospective partners on key aspects
Linking emissions trading systems with different measures for carbon leakage prevention
Different measures for carbon leakage prevention across Emissions Trading Systems (ETSs) may distort economic competition between firms. The same is true of competition between jurisdictions if decisions on the location of production plants are concerned. Free allocation of emission allowances responds to a logic of carbon costs compensation. Border carbon adjustments aim at levelling the playing field between domestic firms and their foreign competitors. Direct support to low-carbon innovation aims at enhancing the competitiveness of domestic firms. Any instrument for carbon leakage prevention could produce, depending on its own specific design, competitive distortions that are illegitimate under WTO law or other applicable trade regime. By inducing convergence of allowance prices, ETS linking reduces any internal competitive distortion due to differences in carbon prices. However, given pre-link differences in anti-leakage measures, price convergence can highlight or even exacerbate potential competitive distortions. In a linking context, output-based allocation may amplify or attenuate competitive distortions by interacting with post-link changes in allowance prices. Differences in anti-leakage measures do not preclude linking in a technical sense. However, with time, some harmonization may prove necessary for the political sustainability of the linkage. The actual significance of any competitive distortion always depends on the extent to which firms compete in a market
On discretization in time in simulations of particulate flows
We propose a time discretization scheme for a class of ordinary differential
equations arising in simulations of fluid/particle flows. The scheme is
intended to work robustly in the lubrication regime when the distance between
two particles immersed in the fluid or between a particle and the wall tends to
zero. The idea consists in introducing a small threshold for the particle-wall
distance below which the real trajectory of the particle is replaced by an
approximated one where the distance is kept equal to the threshold value. The
error of this approximation is estimated both theoretically and by numerical
experiments. Our time marching scheme can be easily incorporated into a full
simulation method where the velocity of the fluid is obtained by a numerical
solution to Stokes or Navier-Stokes equations. We also provide a derivation of
the asymptotic expansion for the lubrication force (used in our numerical
experiments) acting on a disk immersed in a Newtonian fluid and approaching the
wall. The method of this derivation is new and can be easily adapted to other
cases
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