Technical Skills for Students of Architecture

Architects employ science in order to understand the structural and environmental performance of their products, and apply technology in order to assemble them. And although the role of the architect has changed/evolved even within recent history, the relationship between engineering science, construction technology and the design of the built environment has been at the core of architectural practice throughout history. 2000 years ago, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (80-15 BC) commenced The Ten Books on Architecture with a chapter on “The Education of The Architect”, where he states: “The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by this judgement that all work done by the other arts is put to the test”. Vitruvius proceeds to explain and differentiate between practice and theory with the need for an architect to have “a thorough knowledge of both”.1 This paper describes the pedagogic approach of the Technical Studies department at the University of Westminster to the architecture course for degree (B.A.) students. It demonstrates the product of this approach in the form of a small sample of student work over a period of roughly ten years

Implementation with Interdependent Valuations

It is well-known that the ability of the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism to implement efficient outcomes for private value choice problems does not extend to interdependent value problems. When an agent’s type affects other agents’ utilities, it may not be incentive compatible for him to truthfully reveal his type when faced with CGV payments. We show that when agents are informationally small, there exist small modifications to CGV that restore incentive compatibility. We further show that truthful revelation is an approximate ex post equilibrium. Lastly, we show that in replicated settings aggregate payments sufficient to induce truthful revelation go to zero.Auctions, Incentive Compatibility, Mechanism Design, Interdependent Values, Ex Post Incentive Compatibility

Sociological Knowledge and Transformation at ‘Diversity University’, UK

This chapter is based on a case study of one UK university sociology department and shows how sociology knowledge can transform the lives of ‘non-traditional’ students. The research from which the case is drawn focused on four departments teaching sociology-related subjects in universities positioned differently in UK league tables. It explored the question of the relationship between university reputation, pedagogic quality and curriculum knowledge, challenging taken-for-granted judgements about ‘quality’ and in conceptualising ‘just’ university pedagogy by taking Basil Bernstein’s ideas about how ‘powerful’ knowledge is distributed in society to illuminate pedagogy and curriculum. The project took the view that ‘power’ lies in the acquisition of specific (inter)disciplinary knowledges which allows the formation of disciplinary identities by way of developing the means to think about and act in the world in specific ways. We chose to focus on sociology because (1) university sociology is taken up by all socio-economic classes in the UK and is increasingly taught in courses in which the discipline is applied to practice; (2) it is a discipline that historically pursues social and moral ambition which assists exploration of the contribution of pedagogic quality to individuals and society beyond economic goals; (3) the researchers teach and research sociology or sociology of education - an understanding of the subjects under discussion is essential to make judgements about quality. ‘Diversity’ was one of four case study universities. It ranks low in university league tables; is located in a large, multi-cultural English inner city; and, its students are likely to come from lower socio-economic and/or ethnic minority groups, as well as being the first in their families to attend university. To make a case for transformative teaching at Diversity, the chapter draws on longitudinal interviews with students, interviews with tutors, curriculum documents, recordings of teaching, examples of student work, and a survey. It establishes what we can learn from the case of sociology at Diversity, arguing that equality, quality and transformation for individuals and society are served by a university curriculum which is research led and challenging combined with pedagogical practices which give access to difficult-to-acquire and powerful knowledge

The DART-Europe project: towards developing a European theses portal

This paper will report on the new European theses project DART-Europe. The purpose of this project is to align institutional and national e-theses developments across Europe with the wider open archives movement by the construction of a European portal for research theses, thus enabling a global view of European institutional research assets. This project is driven through an innovative partnership between an information provider and an international body of university libraries and open access consortia. The project’s goal is to explore the creation of a European model for the deposit, discovery, use and long-term care of research theses in an open access environment. The paper will outline the projected outcomes of DART-Europe, which is an active group of institutions in addition to a technical service. To this end, DART-Europe is engaged with disciplines and institutions that are widening the definition of research by redefining the formats of theses. For institutions and countries without a repository infrastructure, DART-Europe will enable the creation of a depository. Institutions and countries with a repository infrastructure can engage with DART-Europe to deliver their e-theses. DART-Europe acts as a technology bridge for researchers between those who have existing infrastructures and those who do not. The DART-Europe architecture assumes free at point of use access to full text theses, whether held on the DART-Europe server or by institutional repositories. This paper will provide session attendees with the current progress of this initiative, including a report on the 5 strands of the project, including: architecture; creation of a management tool kit; content acquisition; digital preservation and an investigation of business models

Empirical Uncertainty Estimators for Astrometry from Digital Databases

In order to understand the positional uncertainties of arbitrary objects in several of the current major databases containing astrometric information, a sample of extragalactic radio sources with precise positions in the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) is compared with the available positions of their optical counterparts. The discrepancies between the radio and various optical positions are used to derive empirical uncertainty estimators for the USNO-A2.0, USNO-A1.0, Guide Star Selection System (GSSS) images, and the first and second Digitized Sky Surveys (DSS-I and DSS-II). In addition, an estimate of the uncertainty when the USNO-A2.0 catalog is transferred to different image data is provided. These optical astrometric frame uncertainties can in some cases be the dominant error term when cross-identifying sources at different wavelengths.Comment: 12 pages including 2 figures and 1 table. Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal, October 1999. Values in Table 1 for DSS I corrected 99-07-1

Evaluating web 2.0: user experiences with public library blogs

How well do Web 2.0 tools work for libraries? There have been countless articles written about which Web 2.0 tools libraries should be using and for what purposes, but what about the success of those that are already being used? Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation (CCLC) conducted a survey of online and in-building users over a two-week period to discover their awareness of and use of CCLC's five library blogs. This data, in conjunction with statistics from Google Analytics, provided an interesting insight into library users and their interaction with CCLC's Web 2.0 endeavours

Near-Infrared Observations of the Environments of Radio Quiet QSOs at z >~ 1

We present the results of an infrared survey of QSO fields at z=0.95, 0.995 and 1.5. Each z<1 field was imaged to typical continuum limits of J=20.5, Kprime=19 (5 sigma), and line fluxes of 1.3E10{-16}ergs/cm^2/s (1 sigma)in a 1% interference filter. 16 fields were chosen with z~0.95 targets, 14 with z~0.995 and 6 with z~1.5. A total area of 0.05 square degrees was surveyed, and two emission-line objects were found. We present the infrared and optical photometry of these objects. Optical spectroscopy has confirmed the redshift of one object (at z=0.989) and is consistent with the other object having a similar redshift. We discuss the density of such objects across a range of redshifts from this survey and others in the literature. We also present number-magnitude counts for galaxies in the fields of radio quiet QSOs, supporting the interpretation that they exist in lower density environments than their radio loud counterparts. The J-band number counts are among the first to be published in the J=16--20.Comment: 34 pages, including 12 figures; accepted for publication in the Ap

Large-scale and significant expression from pseudogenes in Sodalis glossinidius – a facultative bacterial endosymbiont

The majority of bacterial genomes have high coding efficiencies, but there are some genomes of intracellular bacteria that have low gene density. The genome of the endosymbiont Sodalis glossinidius contains almost 50 % pseudogenes containing mutations that putatively silence them at the genomic level. We have applied multiple ‘omic’ strategies, combining Illumina and Pacific Biosciences Single-Molecule Real-Time DNA sequencing and annotation, stranded RNA sequencing and proteome analysis to better understand the transcriptional and translational landscape of Sodalis pseudogenes, and potential mechanisms for their control. Between 53 and 74 % of the Sodalis transcriptome remains active in cell-free culture. The mean sense transcription from coding domain sequences (CDSs) is four times greater than that from pseudogenes. Comparative genomic analysis of six Illumina-sequenced Sodalis isolates from different host Glossina species shows pseudogenes make up ~40 % of the 2729 genes in the core genome, suggesting that they are stable and/or that Sodalis is a recent introduction across the genus Glossina as a facultative symbiont. These data shed further light on the importance of transcriptional and translational control in deciphering host–microbe interactions. The combination of genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics gives a multidimensional perspective for studying prokaryotic genomes with a view to elucidating evolutionary adaptation to novel environmental niches

A New Femtosecond Laser-Based 3D Tomography Technique.

Tomographic imaging has dramatically changed science, most notably in the fields of medicine and biology, by producing 3D views of structures which are too complex to understand in any other way. Current tomographic techniques require extensive time both for post-processing and data collection. Femtosecond laser based tomographic techniques have been developed in both standard atmosphere (femtosecond laser-based serial sectioning technique - FSLSS) and in vacuum (Tri-Beam System) for the fast collection (10^5 μm^3/s) of mm^3 sized 3D datasets. Both techniques use femtosecond laser pulses to selectively remove layer-by-layer areas of material with low collateral damage and a negligible heat affected zone. To the authors knowledge, femtosecond lasers have never been used to serial section and these techniques have been entirely and uniquely developed by the author and his collaborators at the University of Michigan and University of California Santa Barbara. The FSLSS was applied to measure the 3D distribution of TiN particles in a 4330 steel. Single pulse ablation morphologies and rates were measured and collected from literature. Simultaneous two-phase ablation of TiN and steel matrix was shown to occur at fluences of 0.9-2 J/cm^2. Laser scanning protocols were developed minimizing surface roughness to 0.1-0.4 μm for laser-based sectioning. The FSLSS technique was used to section and 3D reconstruct titanium nitride(TiN) containing 4330 steel. Statistical analysis of 3D TiN particle sizes, distribution parameters, and particle density were measured. A methodology was developed to use the 3D datasets to produce statistical volume elements (SVEs) for toughness modeling. Six FSLSS TiN datasets were sub-sampled into 48 SVEs for statistical analysis and toughness modeling using the Rice-Tracey and Garrison-Moody models. A two-parameter Weibull analysis was performed and variability in the toughness data agreed well with Ruggieri et al. bulk toughness measurements. The Tri-Beam system combines the benefits of laser based material removal (speed, low-damage, automated) with detectors that collect chemical, structural, and topological information. Multi-modal sectioning information was collected after many laser scanning passes demonstrating the capability of the Tri-Beam system.Ph.D.Materials Science and EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89731/1/mechlin_1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89731/2/mechlin_2.pd

Effects of Using Wedged-Weightlifting Shoes While Performing a Front Squat

Wedged-weightlifting shoes may contribute to a better squatting postural technique by allowing for an increase in ankle dorsiflexion, an increase in hip flexion, and a decrease in the amount of trunk lean. Purpose: To examine how wedged-weightlifting shoes affect peak power output, trunk lean, hip flexion, and ankle dorsiflexion during the performance of a front-squat. Methods: Six participants (167.875±20.13 lbs., 20.67±1.51 yrs.) completed five-repetition squatting trials while standing on a Bertec force plate. Force data were collected at 100 Hz using the Biopac Acknowledge system during these trials. Simultaneously, the trials were video recorded at 50 Hz in the sagittal plane. Five body landmarks (mid-trunk, hip, knee, ankle, base of the 5th metatarsal, and heel) were digitized using the Vicon Motus Motion Analysis System to generate a lower body model to measure lower extremity kinematics. Squatting trials were completed under two different shoe conditions (barefoot and wedged-weightlifting shoes) and two different loads (no-load and loaded at 50% 1RM). An initial laboratory visit two days prior to data collection was used to measure a 1RM. The middle three repetitions of the five-repetition sequence were analyzed. Ground reaction force data were used to determine peak positive and negative power during each squat repetition. Digitized position data were used to compute trunk, hip, knee and ankle joint angular kinematics. Results: A two-way repeated measure ANOVA was used to compare the shoe and load conditions. Shoe type (F(1,5)=7.81, p=.04, hp2=.61) and load (F(1,5)=24.72, p=.004) significantly affected peak negative power production. Load accounted for about 83% of the change seen in negative power production (hp2 =.832); as the load increased, the squatter’s negative power increased. Negative peak power occurs during the eccentric, or downward, movement of the squat. The means(SD) peak negative power output for wedge-weightlifting shoes, -1874.8(426.4) W, and load, -1242.0(417.1) W. Load (F(1,5)=18.94, p =.007) significantly affected the ankle angle and accounted for about 79% of change (hp2=.79), causing a decrease in ankle dorsiflexion. The mean(SD) ankle dorsiflexion under the load condition for wedged-weight lifting shoes, 50.9±(6.4)degrees, and barefoot, 49.71±(7.6)degrees. Conclusion: Although previous studies have suggested that wedged-weightlifting shoes affect performance of squatting, this study found that the wedged-weightlifting shoes did not affect the overall performance of the front squat