The architecture of community: some new proposals on the social consequences of architectural and planning decisions

Summary: "Territorial" theories argue that spatial design can only play an important role in society by virtue of there being a "correspondence" between spatial zones and social identities. In this paper it is argued that "structured non-correspondence" can also play a positive social role, with quite different consequences for spatial design. To the extent that a system works on non-correspondences it functions more probabilistically. It relies on numbers and frequencies of events which take place to reproduce a statistically stable global system, rather than on the formal clarity of its structure. This gives non-correspondence systems a robustness which highly structured systems do not possess. They can thus tolerate much more local disorder and yet be reproducible

What do parents of children with dysphagia think about their MDT? A qualitative study

Objectives: To seek the experiences and perspectives of parents caring for children with dysphagia, with emphasis on their experiences of working within their child’s multidisciplinary team (MDT) Setting: This research was completed in community settings, within families’ homes across the UK. Participants: Fourteen families self-selected to participate in the study. Criteria specified that participants must care for a child under the age of 18 and to decrease ambiguity the term ‘diagnosis of dysphagia’ was defined as the need for modified (thickened) fluids. Exclusion criteria: caring for an adult over the age of 18; diet and fluid modifications for reasons other than dysphagia (e.g. for symptomatic treatment of Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). Participants were interviewed within their homes using a semi-structured questionnaire and data was analysed using a descriptive phenomenological approach through use of thematic coding and constant comparison. Themes and relationships were inductively generated from the data. Results: Participants universally expressed a desire to be involved with their child’s multidisciplinary team; this study identified the following facilitators and barriers to collaboration: Accessing Services, Professional Knowledge, and Professional Skillset. Participants described three means of responding to these barriers: Reacting Emotionally, Seeking Solutions, and Making Decisions. Conclusions: This study recorded in-depth reports of participants’ experiences of working with healthcare providers. Despite government-driven efforts towards person-centred health and social care, participants shared accounts of times when this has not occurred, describing a negative impact on the well-being and quality of life of their child and family

A research in support of NASA's space science

Instrumentation, the interpretation of data from space-borne instruments and the development of theoretical studies of the Earth's environment are reported. New circuitry was introduced to the existing ion drift meter to enable the detection of light ion velocities that are different from the major ion species. Significant progress was made in the tailoring of magnetic mass analysis to stratospheric ions where care must be taken to preserve the original species and to obtain good mass resolution at high mass numbers. Also a rugged and durable zoom imaging spectrometer was successfully tested and important modifications are being undertaken to allow larger scanning ranges for observation of weak airglow emissions from the Earth's atmosphere. Data interpretation efforts led to the discovery of a new class of plasma irregularities on the bottomside of the F-region. Studies of all the available plasma properties from satellite measurements in the high latitude ionosphere revealed regions of field aligned currents where it is reasonable to expect thermal electrons to be the dominant current carriers

Parallel and vector computation for stochastic optimal control applications

A general method for parallel and vector numerical solutions of stochastic dynamic programming problems is described for optimal control of general nonlinear, continuous time, multibody dynamical systems, perturbed by Poisson as well as Gaussian random white noise. Possible applications include lumped flight dynamics models for uncertain environments, such as large scale and background random atmospheric fluctuations. The numerical formulation is highly suitable for a vector multiprocessor or vectorizing supercomputer, and results exhibit high processor efficiency and numerical stability. Advanced computing techniques, data structures, and hardware help alleviate Bellman's curse of dimensionality in dynamic programming computations

A research in support of NASA's space science

Thirty-nine papers on cosmic ray anisotropies, law energy auroral particles, helium and hydrogen airglow, ionospheric irregularities, thermospheric winds, interhemisphere ion transport, ion cyclotron heating, ion temperature morphology, ion chemistry, ion convection, and spacecraft interactions with the atmosphere and ionosphere are described

Retarding potential analyzer research

Studies were continued in the areas of ionospheric electrodynamics, plasma irregularities, and ion-neutral coupling. The spectral characteristics of structure in the ion concentration and the electric field at high latitudes were examined. It was found that in the region of velocity shears the relationship between the slopes of the two spectra are dependent on the existence of large field-aligned currents and apparently large ionospheric conductivity gradients. The relationship between the Joule dissipation and the locally measured value of the ion temperature were studied by examining the horizontal ion drift velocity. The importance of ion-neutral coupling was investigated in additional studies involving the nature of the coupling at high latitude boundaries and during times of magnetic disturbances. Much of this behavior can be modeled using globular circulation models. In order to study the storm time response of the thermosphere the global ion convection pattern was derived from DE-2 measurements and used as input in a circulation model. The calculated variables of neutral velocity and composition and temperature were compared with measurements to validate the technique

Unified aeroacoustics analysis for high speed turboprop aerodynamics and noise. Volume 5: Propagation of propeller tone noise through a fuselage boundary layer

An analysis of tone noise propagation through a boundary layer and fuselage scattering effects was derived. This analysis is a three dimensional and the complete wave field is solved by matching analytical expressions for the incident and scattered waves in the outer flow to a numerical solution in the boundary layer flow. The outer wave field is constructed analytically from an incident wave appropriate to the source and a scattered wave in the standard Hankel function form. For the incident wave, an existing function - domain propeller noise radiation theory is used. In the boundary layer region, the wave equation is solved by numerical methods. The theoretical analysis is embodied in a computer program which allows the calculation of correction factors for the fuselage scattering and boundary layer refraction effects. The effects are dependent on boundary layer profile, flight speed, and frequency. Corrections can be derived for any point on the fuselage, including those on the opposite side from the source. The theory was verified using limited cases and by comparing calculations with available measurements from JetStar tests of model prop-fans. For the JetStar model scale, the boundary layer refraction effects produce moderate fuselage pressure reinforcements aft of and near the plane of rotation and significant attenuation forward of the plane of rotation at high flight speeds. At lower flight speeds, the calculated boundary layer effects result in moderate amplification over the fuselage area of interest. Apparent amplification forward of the plane of rotation is a result of effective changes in the source directivity due to boundary layer refraction effects. Full scale effects are calculated to be moderate, providing fuselage pressure amplification of about 5 dB at the peak noise location. Evaluation using available noise measurements was made under high-speed, high-altitude flight conditions. Comparisons of calculations made of free field noise, using a current frequency-domain propeller noise prediction method, and fuselage effects using this new procedure show good agreement with fuselage measurements over a wide range of flight speeds and frequencies. Correction factors for the JetStar measurements made on the fuselage are provided in an Appendix

Hawks\u27 Herald -- February 5, 2015

Strategy for Tomorro

What do we mean by building function?

Scientific approaches to architecture usually avoid the issue of building form, preferring to focus on function. But how can there be a theory of function without a systematic analysis of the key architectural variable of form? A theory of description is required. In this paper it is argued that such a theory can be built through the analysis of spatial form in buildings. Then once spatial form is describable in terms of a descriptive theory, a more powerfully scientific - and architectural - understanding of function is possible. The argument draws on several pieces of research carried out by the authors and their students, but focusses eventually on various types of medical building in order to illustrate certain general principles

OGO-6 experiment F-03

The results obtained with the retarding potential analyzer on the OGO-6 satellite are discussed. The information obtained during the OGO-6 flight concerned the following subjects: (1) measurement of electron flux density in the plasmasphere, (2) latitudinal variations of ion temperature, (3) heating in the nighttime ionosphere by conjugate photoelectrons, (4) longitudinal variation in equatorial ion temperature at low altitude, and (5) identification of heavy ions in the upper F region