Digital Twin Journeys: An iterative approach to prototyping digital twins

Embarking on a digital twin journey can help you better understand a problem and provide insights that can help you solve a problem. This infographic is a guide to capturing value through prototyping digital twins, based on lessons learned from the digital twin research delivered by the Centre for Digital Built Britain in partnership with the Construction Innovation Hub and undertaken by the University of Cambridge. Please visit https://www.cdbb.cam.ac.uk/research/digital-twin-journeys for more information about this research programme

Complexidade em arquitetura e urbanismo: uma avaliação das ciclovias em Florianópolis, Brasil

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e UrbanismoArquitetura é capaz de melhorar o ambiente que habitamos. Comentamos sobre exemplos de arquitetura mal-sucedida e sobre como o projeto arquitetônico procura realizar uma arquitetura melhor-sucedida. Um possível caminho para isto é identificado na Teoria da Complexidade, cujo surgimento está relatado e logo a teoria desvendada pelo desmembramento em suas partes. Estas partes são observadas em arquitetura e urbanismo e uma seleção de obras é discutida em que isto ocorre. Uma compreensão mais abrangente da Teoria da Complexidade, ao contrário de apenas um conhecimento das partes, poderá criar uma compreensão diferente de como a teoria de arquitetura se relaciona à prática. Examinamos esta possibilidade através de uma avaliação das ciclovias, existentes e projetadas, no centro de Florianópolis, Brasil. A pesquisa gera conclusões sobre o desempenho das ciclovias e descreve medidas que poderão ser implementadas para melhorar as instalações futuras, assim aproximando-se a uma realização de arquitetura melhor-sucedida. Architecture can improve the environment that we live in. We comment on examples of unsuccessful architecture and on how architectural design attempts to produce a more successful architecture. A possible way to this is seen through Complexity Theory, whose development is traced and the theory then explained by its division into parts. These parts are observed in architecture and urbanism and we discuss a selection of works where this happens. A broader understanding of Complexity Theory, as opposed to simply the knowledge of its parts, can create a different understanding of how architectural theories relate to practise. This possibility is examined in an evaluation of the cycle tracks, both existing and proposed, in the centre of Florianópolis, Brasil. The research develops conclusions about the performance of the cycle tracks and describes measures that could be taken to improve the installations in the future, thus moving towards the realization of successful architecture

Abrupt or gradual?:Change point analysis of the late Pleistocene–Holocene climate record from Chew Bahir, southern Ethiopia

We used a change point analysis on a late Pleistocene-Holocene lake-sediment record from the Chew Bahir basin in the southern Ethiopian Rift to determine the amplitude and duration of past climate transitions. The most dramatic changes occurred over 240 yr (from similar to 15,700 to 15,460 yr) during the onset of the African Humid Period (AHP), and over 990 yr (from similar to 4875 to 3885 yr) during its protracted termination. The AHP was interrupted by a distinct dry period coinciding with the high-latitude Younger Dryas stadial, which had an abrupt onset (less than similar to 100 yr) at similar to 13,260 yr and lasted until similar to 11,730 yr. Wet-dry-wet transitions prior to the AHP may reflect the high-latitude Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, as indicated by cross-correlation of the potassium record with the NorthGRIP ice core record between similar to 45-20 ka. These findings may contribute to the debates regarding the amplitude, and duration and mechanisms of past climate transitions, and their possible influence on the development of early modern human cultures

Functional Imaging of the Outer Retinal Complex using High Fidelity Imaging Retinal Densitometry

We describe a new technique, high fidelity Imaging Retinal Densitometry (IRD), which probes the functional integrity of the outer retinal complex. We demonstrate the ability of the technique to map visual pigment optical density and synthesis rates in eyes with and without macular disease. A multispectral retinal imaging device obtained precise measurements of retinal reflectance over space and time. Data obtained from healthy controls and 5 patients with intermediate AMD, before and after photopigment bleaching, were used to quantify visual pigment metrics. Heat maps were plotted to summarise the topography of rod and cone pigment kinetics and descriptive statistics conducted to highlight differences between those with and without AMD. Rod and cone visual pigment synthesis rates in those with AMD (v = 0.043 SD 0.019 min-1 and v = 0.119 SD 0.046 min-1, respectively) were approximately half those observed in healthy controls (v = 0.079 SD 0.024 min-1 for rods and v = 0.206 SD 0.069 min-1 for cones). By mapping visual pigment kinetics across the central retina, high fidelity IRD provides a unique insight into outer retinal complex function. This new technique will improve the phenotypic characterisation, diagnosis and treatment monitoring of various ocular pathologies, including AMD

Environmental change and human occupation of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya during the last 20,000 years

Our understanding of the impact of climate-driven environmental change on prehistoric human populations is hampered by the scarcity of continuous paleoenvironmental records in the vicinity of archaeological sites. Here we compare a continuous paleoclimatic record of the last 20 ka before present from the Chew Bahir basin, southwest Ethiopia, with the available archaeological record of human presence in the region. The correlation of this record with orbitally-driven insolation variations suggests a complex nonlinear response of the environment to climate forcing, reflected in several long-term and short-term transitions between wet and dry conditions, resulting in abrupt changes between favorable and unfavorable living conditions for humans. Correlating the archaeological record in the surrounding region of the Chew Bahir basin, presumably including montane and lake-marginal refugia for human populations, with our climate record suggests a complex interplay between humans and their environment during the last 20 ka. The result may contribute to our understanding of how a dynamic environment may have impacted the adaptation and dispersal of early humans in eastern Africa. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa

Climatic change is widely acknowledged to have played a role in the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, but the timing is contentious. Dispersal is often linked to climatic change at ~60,000 years ago, despite increasing evidence for earlier presence of modern humans in Asia. Here we report a deep seismic and near-continuous core record of the last 150,000 years from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highlands, close to the earliest modern human fossil sites and to postulated dispersal routes. The record shows varied climate at the end of the penultimate glacial, followed by an abrupt change to relatively stable moist climate during the last interglacial. These conditions would have favored population growth and range expansion, supporting models of early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from AfricapublishersversionPeer reviewe

Reanalysis of the Atmospheric Radiocarbon Calibration Record from Lake Suigetsu, Japan

Terrestrial plant macrofossils from the sedimentary record of Lake Suigetsu, Japan, provide the only quasi-continuous direct atmospheric record of radiocarbon (14C) covering the last 50 ka cal BP (Bronk Ramsey et al. 2012). Since then, new high precision data have become available on U-Th dated speleothems from Hulu Cave China, covering the same time range (Cheng et al. 2018). In addition, an updated varve-based chronology has also been published for the 2006 core from Lake Suigetsu (SG06) based on extended microscopic analysis of the sediments and improved algorithms for interpolation (Schlolaut et al. 2018). Here we reanalyze the radiocarbon dataset from Suigetsu based on the new varve counting information and the constraints imposed by the speleothem data. This enables the new information on the calendar age scale of the Suigetsu dataset to be used in the construction of the consensus IntCal calibration curve. Comparison of the speleothem and plant macrofossil records provides insight into the mechanisms underlying the incorporation of carbon into different types of record and the relative strengths of different types of archive for calibration purposes