The City is the Factory: New Solidarities and Spatial Strategies in an Urban Age

[Excerpt] Urban public spaces, from the streets and squares of Buenos Aires to Zuccotti Park in New York City, have become the emblematic sites of contentious politics in the twenty-first century. As the contributors to The City Is the Factory argue, this resurgent politics of the square is itself part of a broader shift in the primary locations and targets of popular protest from the workplace to the city. This shift is due to an array of intersecting developments: the concentration of people, profit, and social inequality in growing urban areas; the attacks on and precarity faced by unions and workers\u27 movements; and the sense of possibility and actual leverage afforded by local politics and the tactical use of urban space. Thus, the city —from the town square to the banlieu—is becoming like the factory of old: a site of production and profit-making as well as new forms of solidarity, resistance, and social reimagining.We see examples of the city as factory in new place-based political alliances, as workers and the unemployed find common cause with right to the city struggles. Demands for jobs with justice are linked with demands for the urban commons—from affordable housing to a healthy environment, from immigrant rights to urban citizenship and the right to streets free from both violence and racially biased policing. The case studies and essays in The City Is the Factory provide descriptions and analysis of the form, substance, limits, and possibilities of these timely struggles

The impact of ecological thought on architectural theory.

This thesis looks at the idea of ecology and its relationship to, and influence on, architectural thought. Ecological thinking emerged as a subset of biology in the second half of the nineteenth century and developed as a philosophical idea and a political outlook. As an idea that stands in the hinterland between science and society, it has not been particularly stable; sometimes it is fashionable, at other times it has disappeared from consciousness. This thesis looks at the long history of ecology, paying particular attention to the periods when it was a popular idea and it had an impact on the imagination and outlook of architects. The first of these periods is in the decades from Darwin's publication of his theory of evolution through to the run-up to the First World War, prior to the emergence of the Modern Movement. The second period is brief, from the late ‘60s through to the early '70s, and is popularly referred to as the Age of Ecology. Finally, there is the period from 2000 to the present. The final section of the study looks at the impact of ecological thought on architectural ideas and buildings today, when there is a high level of concern about the environment. Through historical interpretation, the study identifies some of the core themes of ecological thought and looks at their relationship to the design of the built environment. It traces the recurring themes of naturalism, vitalism and materialism, which are emerging as significant influences on today's architecture. The thesis includes research interviews with some of the leading architectural thinkers and historians of our time in order to situate the discussion of ecology in the broader discourse on the purpose and nature of architecture and the future of the discipline and the profession

Milk Consumption Following Exercise Reduces Subsequent Energy Intake in Female Recreational Exercisers

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of skimmed milk as a recovery drink following moderate–vigorous cycling exercise on subsequent appetite and energy intake in healthy, female recreational exercisers. Utilising a randomised cross-over design, nine female recreational exercisers (19.7 ± 1.3 years) completed a V̇O2peak test followed by two main exercise trials. The main trials were conducted following a standardised breakfast. Following 30 min of moderate-vigorous exercise (65% V̇O2peak), either 600 mL of skimmed milk or 600 mL of orange drink (475 mL orange juice from concentrate, 125 mL water), which were isoenergetic (0.88 MJ), were ingested, followed 60 min later with an ad libitum pasta meal. Absolute energy intake was reduced 25.2% ± 16.6% after consuming milk compared to the orange drink (2.39 ± 0.70 vs. 3.20 ± 0.84 MJ, respectively; p = 0.001). Relative energy intake (in relation to the energy content of the recovery drinks and energy expenditure) was significantly lower after milk consumption compared to the orange drink (1.49 ± 0.72 vs. 2.33 ± 0.90 MJ, respectively; p = 0.005). There were no differences in AUC (× 1 h) subjective appetite parameters (hunger, fullness and desire to eat) between trials. The consumption of skimmed milk following 30 min of moderate-vigorous cycling exercise reduces subsequent energy intake in female recreational exercisers

How to pack trapezoids: exact and evolutionary algorithms

The purposes of this paper are twofold. In the first, we describe an exact polynomial-time algorithm for the pair sequencing problem and show how this method can be used to pack fixed-height trapezoids into a single bin such that interitem wastage is minimised. We then go on to examine how this algorithm can be combined with bespoke evolutionary and local search methods for tackling the multiple-bin version of this problem—one that is closely related to one-dimensional bin packing. In the course of doing this, a number of ideas surrounding recombination, diversity, and genetic repair are also introduced and analysed

The attitudes of students and academic staff towards electronic course support:are we convergent?

The present study investigates the views and attitudes of both the students and staff with regard to the usefulness of electronic course support throughout all four years of the MPharm programme at Aston University. Students were sampled between January and March 2001 using a self-completion questionnaire administered during the start of a practical or tutorial class. All internal academic staff were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. Response rates were 100 and 89.5%, respectively. The study found that students rapidly embraced the use of electronic course support within the undergraduate programme, although they view its role as augmenting traditional course delivery. This view was mirrored by the academic staff, although only around a half currently place their material on the University's virtual learning environment (VLE), WebCT. The failure of staff to completely embrace the VLE is grounded in a lack of confidence and ability in its use. A majority of the academic staff indicated that they wish to be trained further in the use of information technology. Academic institutions need to understand and meet these needs in parallel with the introduction of any electronic course support