Towards effective city rejuvenation with ICT: Web-based shape grammar supported refurbishment design

In this paper we consider the architectural task of the rejuvenation of cities consisting of the large scale renovation of regular apartment buildings. It is argued that ICT, and specifically shape grammar systems, provide the means to take up this task by refurbishing the apartments in these buildings in an individualized way, thus avoiding large scale demolishment in cities. We give this argument for the specific case of Rabo-de-bacalhau apartment buildings in the city of Lisbon by sketching a shape grammar system for the refurbishment of these apartments that can be made available as a web tool directly to the apartment inhabitants.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Over-the-counter housing design: the city when the gap between architects and laypersons narrows

The aim of this paper is to focus on the impact that new automatic architecture design systems may have on the buildings’ refurbishment dynamic in the city. We argue that this impact consists of increases in the architectural quality of housing and in the social and ecological sustainable renewal of cities. European cities are faced with stocks of housing from the past centuries that do not respond to contemporary ways of living. For the required modernisation of these stocks three general options are available: inhabitants making small improvements to their housing, large-scale centralised refurbishment, and new construction after demolishment. These options all have their disadvantages. Improvements by owners may lack architectural quality, say it may undermine structural integrity of buildings when whole walls are demolished. Centralised modernisation imposes a homogeneity on the refurbished buildings that may disrupt the social fabric in neighbourhoods by chasing away the original inhabitants. Modernisation by demolishing is increasingly recognised in architecture as ecological unsustainable by its use of energy and other resources.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Applying Design Thinking Elsewhere: Organizational context matters

In this contribution design thinking is taken as a transfer of design methods from product development to other domains. It is argued that the success of this transfer depends on the organisational context offered to design thinking in these other domains. We describe the application of design methods in product development and in two new domains by what we have called the IDER model, where D refers to design and I, E and R to the organisational context. Then we show that characteristics of the contexts in the new domains may determine the success of applying design thinking in these domains. Finally we focus on the transitions among design and the other contextual elements as another source that can ‘make or break’ the success of applying design thinking. We support our arguments with two cases of design thinking: social design and business-innovation design

Framing in design: A formal analysis and failure modes

This contribution presents a formal description of the design practice of framing and identifies two general modes in which framing can lead to failure in design projects. The first is called the goal reformulation failure mode and occurs when designers reformulate the goal of the client in a design task and give design solutions that solve the reformulated goal but not the original goal. The second is called the frame failure mode and occurs when designers propose a frame for the design task that cannot be accepted by the client. The analysis of framing and its failure modes is aimed at better understanding this design practice and provides a first step towards arriving at criteria that successful applications of framing should meet. The description and the failure modes are illustrated by critically considering an initially successful case of framing, namely the redesign of the Kings Cross entertainment district in Sydney

The quality of designs by shape grammar systems and architects: a comparative test on refurbishing Lisbon’s Rabo-de-Bacalhau apartments

This paper compares the quality of designs generated by shape grammar systems with designs created by professional architects. It describes an experiment in which evaluators ranked the quality of preliminary designs for refurbishing Lisbon's rabo-de-bacalhau apartments. The result showed that the design quality of the grammar solutions for the task was similar to that of the designs by professional architects. Thus, this paper argues that shape grammars can be used as stand-alone design systems in architecture. The practical value is that shape grammar systems become alternative means of taking up design challenges that currently require too much effort by architects to be economically feasible, such as refurbishing all of Lisbon's rabo-de-bacalhau apartments.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

User-centered shape grammars for housing transformations: towards post-handover grammars

This paper presents a post-handover shape grammar for introducing inhabitants wishes in the transformation of individual houses of the Malagueira housing complex by Álvaro Siza Vieira in Évora, Portugal. The presented research includes a case study developed in the context of the workshop Gramática da Forma em estudos de habitação - análise, geração e customização at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this paper we present the first developments of the Malagueira transformation grammar, including corpus of analysis, shape rules, and derivations, and we discuss the opportunities that shape grammar brings to user-centered design.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quantum Technologies and Society: Towards a Different Spin

Due primarily to technological advances over the last decade, quantum research has become a key priority area for science and technology policy all over the world. With this manifesto, we wish to prevent quantum technology from running into fiascos of implementation at the interface of science and society. To this end, we identify key stumbling blocks and propose recommendations

Topos-Theoretic Extension of a Modal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

This paper deals with topos-theoretic truth-value valuations of quantum propositions. Concretely, a mathematical framework of a specific type of modal approach is extended to the topos theory, and further, structures of the obtained truth-value valuations are investigated. What is taken up is the modal approach based on a determinate lattice \Dcal(e,R), which is a sublattice of the lattice \Lcal of all quantum propositions and is determined by a quantum state $e$ and a preferred determinate observable $R$. Topos-theoretic extension is made in the functor category \Sets^{\CcalR} of which base category \CcalR is determined by $R$. Each true atom, which determines truth values, true or false, of all propositions in \Dcal(e,R), generates also a multi-valued valuation function of which domain and range are \Lcal and a Heyting algebra given by the subobject classifier in \Sets^{\CcalR}, respectively. All true propositions in \Dcal(e,R) are assigned the top element of the Heyting algebra by the valuation function. False propositions including the null proposition are, however, assigned values larger than the bottom element. This defect can be removed by use of a subobject semi-classifier. Furthermore, in order to treat all possible determinate observables in a unified framework, another valuations are constructed in the functor category \Sets^{\Ccal}. Here, the base category \Ccal includes all \CcalR's as subcategories. Although \Sets^{\Ccal} has a structure apparently different from \Sets^{\CcalR}, a subobject semi-classifier of \Sets^{\Ccal} gives valuations completely equivalent to those in \Sets^{\CcalR}'s.Comment: LaTeX2

Correlation between drying defects, their parameters and moisture gradient in kiln-dried, south african grown Eucalyptus Grandis poles

Non-destructive testing for drying defects in Eucalyptus grandis utility poles would be highly advantageous. These defects can negatively affect creosote preservative treatment and in-service performance. The objective of this study was to assess correlations between drying defects such as surface checking, honeycombing, collapse, their parameters and moisture content (MC) gradient in poles, to possibly find a simple and quick but reliable method to assess internal and external drying defects. Defects and moisture content gradients were measured in 39 kiln-dried E. grandis poles. After measuring surface check length, width and depth using a measuring tape, a ruler and a depth gauge, destructive sampling at the theoretical ground line (TGL) was done to measure the MC gradient between the shell and core of poles. Digital image analysis of cross-sections of discs cut at TGL was used to measure honeycomb check width, length and area, as well as counting individual closed surface checks. Collapse was assessed using qualitative methods. Results showed that honeycombing and collapse were positively, and surface checking and MC gradient were negatively correlated. Surface check width, length and depth were also correlated. Honeycomb count, check width, length and area were strongly correlated. It was concluded that measuring any of these surface check and/or honeycomb parameters may give meaningful deductions about the extent of surface checking and honeycombing respectively

Is bicarbonate in Photosystem II the equivalent of the glutamate ligand to the iron atom in bacterial reaction centers?

Photosystem II of oxygen-evolving organisms exhibits a bicarbonate-reversible formate effect on electron transfer between the primary and secondary acceptor quinones, QA and QB. This effect is absent in the otherwise similar electron acceptor complex of purple bacteria, e.g. Rhodobacter sphaeroides. This distinction has led to the suggestion that the iron atom of the acceptor quinone complex in PS II might lack the fifth and sixth ligands provided in the bacterial reaction center (RC) by a glutamate residue at position 234 of the M-subunit in Rb. sphaeroides,RCs (M232 in Rps. viridis). By site-directed mutagenesis we have altered GluM234 in RCs from Rb. sphaeroides, replacing it with valine, glutamine and glycine to form mutants M234EV, M234EQ and M234EG, respectively. These mutants grew competently under phototrophic conditions and were tested for the formate-bicarbonate effect. In chromatophores there were no detectable differences between wild type (Wt) and mutant M234EV with respect to cytochrome b-561 reduction following a flash, and no effect of bicarbonate depletion (by incubation with formate). In isolated RCs, several electron transfer activities were essentially unchanged in Wt and M234EV, M234EQ and M234EG mutants, and no formate-bicarbonate effect was observed on: (a) the fast or slow phases of recovery of the oxidized primary donor (P+) in the absence of exogenous donor, i.e., the recombination of P+QA− or P+QB−, respectively; (b) the kinetics of electron transfer from QA− to QB; or (c) the flash dependent oscillations of semiquinone formation in the presence of donor to P+ (QB turnover). The absence of a formate-bicarbonate effect in these mutants suggests that GluM234 is not responsible for the absence of the formate-bicarbonate effect in Wt bacterial RCs, or at least that other factors must be taken into account. The mutant RCs were also examined for the fast primary electron transfer along the active (A-)branch of the pigment chain, leading to reduction of QA. The kinetics were resolved to reveal the reduction of the monomer bacteriochlorophyll (τ = 3.5 ps), followed by reduction of the bacteriopheophytin (τ = 0.9 ps). Both steps were essentially unaltered from the wild type. However, the rate of reduction of QA was slowed by a factor of 2 (τ = 410 ± 30 and 47 ± 30 ps for M234EQ and M234EV, respectively, compared to 220 ps in the wild type). EPR studies of the isolated RCs showed a characteristic g = 1.82 signal for the QA semiquinone coupled to the iron atom, which was indistinguishable from the wild type. It is concluded that GluM234 is not essential to the normal functioning of the acceptor quinone complex in bacterial RCs and that the role of bicarbonate in PS II is distinct from the role of this residue in bacterial RCs