Reflections on damaged modernity: Lessons from the iconic architecture industry

For Adorno writing in 1953, Hollywood cinema was a medium of “regression” based on infantile wish fulfillment manufactured by the industrial repetition of the filmic image that he called a modern “hieroglyphics”—like the archaic language of pictures in Ancient Egypt, which guaranteed immortality after death in Egyptian burial rites. From that 1953 essay Prolog zum Fernsehen to Das Schema der Massenkultur in 1981, Adorno likened film frames to cultural ideograms: What he called the filmic “language of images” (Bildersprache) constituted a Hieroglyphenschrift that visualised forbidden sexual impulses and ideations of death and domination in the unconscious of the mass spectator. In his famous passage he writes, “As image, the image-writing (Bilderschrift) is a medium of regression, where the producer and consumer coincide; as writing, film resurrects the archaic images of modernity.” In other words, cinema takes the spectator on a journey into his unconscious in order to control him from within. It works, because the spectator begins to believe the film is speaking to him in his very own image-language (the unconscious), making him do and buy whatever capitalism demands. Modernity for Adorno is precisely the instrumentalisation of the collective unconscious through the mediatic images of the culture industry.

The shifting value of design in the Australian Architecture Industry

Architects regularly employ design as a problem-solving tool in the built environment. Within the design process, architects apply design thinking to reframe problems as opportunities, take advantage of contradictory information to develop new solutions, and differentiate outcomes based on context. This research aims to investigate how design can be better positioned to develop greater differentiated value to an architect’s current service offering, and how design as a strategy could be applied as a driver of business innovation within the Australian architecture industry. The research will explore literature relating to the future of architecture, the application of design thinking, and the benefits of strategic design. The future intent of the research is to develop strategies that improve the value offering of architects, and develop design led solutions that could be applied successfully to the business of architecture.

Tropical prawn trawl bycatch of fish and seasnakes reduced by Yarrow Fisheye Bycatch Reduction Device

Reducing unwanted trawl bycatch is actively encouraged in Australia, particularly in prawn trawl fisheries. We tested the performance of a Bycatch Reduction Device, the Yarrow Fisheye, during two periods of commercial fishing operations in Australia's Northern Prawn Fishery, by comparing the catches of paired treatment and control nets. We compared the catch weights of the small fish and invertebrate bycatch, and the commercially important tiger prawns, from 42 trawls in 2002. The Yarrow Fisheye reduced the weight of small bycatch by a mean of 22.7%, with no loss of tiger prawn. We also compared the numbers of seasnakes caught in 41 and 72 trawls during the spring trawling seasons of 2004 and 2005, respectively. The Yarrow Fisheye reduced the catches by a mean of 43.3%. Flume-tank tests of the Yarrow Fisheye showed that this device created a slow water-flow region extending over 2 m downstream from its position in the net, and close to where the catch accumulates. Finfish and seasnakes may be exploiting this slow water-flow region to escape via the eye, Although the reductions in fish and seasnake bycatch were excellent, we think they could be further improved by relating differences in fisheye position and localised water displacements, to design and rigging changes.

One device, two doses

Ms Breathless is a 59-year-old lady living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for several years now, and quit smoking over 20 years ago. She sometimes experiences symptoms of breathlessness, and an unrelenting productive cough, particularly when she comes in contact with dusty places, second-hand smoke, or when her allergies and hay fever play up. Apart from these triggers, her symptoms are well maintained with her inhalers glycopyrronium bromide (Seebri) and indacaterol (Onbrez), and she has been using them for about nine months. Ms Breathless is otherwise healthy, and not taking any other medicines.

Defining the role of common variation in the genomic and biological architecture of adult human height

Using genome-wide data from 253,288 individuals, we identified 697 variants at genome-wide significance that together explained one-fifth of the heritability for adult height. By testing different numbers of variants in independent studies, we show that the most strongly associated approximately 2,000, approximately 3,700 and approximately 9,500 SNPs explained approximately 21%, approximately 24% and approximately 29% of phenotypic variance. Furthermore, all common variants together captured 60% of heritability. The 697 variants clustered in 423 loci were enriched for genes, pathways and tissue types known to be involved in growth and together implicated genes and pathways not highlighted in earlier efforts, such as signaling by fibroblast growth factors, WNT/beta-catenin and chondroitin sulfate-related genes. We identified several genes and pathways not previously connected with human skeletal growth, including mTOR, osteoglycin and binding of hyaluronic acid. Our results indicate a genetic architecture for human height that is characterized by a very large but finite number (thousands) of causal variants.

Inference of the genetic architecture underlying BMI and height with the use of 20,240 sibling pairs

Evidence that complex traits are highly polygenic has been presented by population-based genome-wide association studies (GWASs) through the identification of many significant variants, as well as by family-based de novo sequencing studies indicating that several traits have a large mutational target size. Here, using a third study design, we show results consistent with extreme polygenicity for body mass index (BMI) and height. On a sample of 20,240 siblings (from 9,570 nuclear families), we used a within-family method to obtain narrow-sense heritability estimates of 0.42 (SE = 0.17, p = 0.01) and 0.69 (SE = 0.14, p = 6 x 10(-)(7)) for BMI and height, respectively, after adjusting for covariates. The genomic inflation factors from locus-specific linkage analysis were 1.69 (SE = 0.21, p = 0.04) for BMI and 2.18 (SE = 0.21, p = 2 x 10(-10)) for height. This inflation is free of confounding and congruent with polygenicity, consistent with observations of ever-increasing genomic-inflation factors from GWASs with large sample sizes, implying that those signals are due to true genetic signals across the genome rather than population stratification. We also demonstrate that the distribution of the observed test statistics is consistent with both rare and common variants underlying a polygenic architecture and that previous reports of linkage signals in complex traits are probably a consequence of polygenic architecture rather than the segregation of variants with large effects. The convergent empirical evidence from GWASs, de novo studies, and within-family segregation implies that family-based sequencing studies for complex traits require very large sample sizes because the effects of causal variants are small on average.

Effect of organic gate dielectric material properties on interfacial charging and discharging of pentacene MIM device

The effect of material properties of an environmentally friendly, optically transparent dielectric material, polyterpenol, on the carrier transients within the pentacene-based double-layer MTM device was investigated. Polyterpenol films were RF plasma polymerised under varied process conditions, with resultant films differing in surface chemistry and morphology. Independent of type of polyterpenol, time-resolved EFISHG study of IZO/polyterpenol/pentacene/Au structures showed similar transient behaviour with carriers injected into pentacene from Au electrode only, confirming polyterpenol to be a suitable blocking layer for visualisation of single-species carrier transportation during charging and discharging under different bias conditions. Polyterpenol fabricated under higher input power show better promise due to higher chemical and thermal stability, improved uniformity, and absence of defects.

Investigation of interfacial charging and discharging in double-layer pentacene-based metal-insulator-metal device with polyterpenol blocking layer using electric field induced second harmonic generation

Time-resolved electric field induced second harmonic generation technique was used to probe the carrier transients within double-layer pentacene-based MIM devices. Polyterpenol thin films fabricated from non-synthetic environmentally sustainable source were used as a blocking layer to assist in visualisation of single-species carrier transportation during charging and discharging under different bias conditions. Results demonstrated that carrier transients were comprised of charging on electrodes, followed by carrier injection and charging of the interface. Polyterpenol was demonstrated to be a sound blocking material and can therefore be effectively used for probing of double-layer devices using EFISHG.

MPC controlled multirotor with suspended slung load: System architecture and visual load detection

There is an increased interest in the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for load transportation from environmental remote sensing to construction and parcel delivery. One of the main challenges is accurate control of the load position and trajectory. This paper presents an assessment of real flight trials for the control of an autonomous multi-rotor with a suspended slung load using only visual feedback to determine the load position. This method uses an onboard camera to take advantage of a common visual marker detection algorithm to robustly detect the load location. The load position is calculated using an onboard processor, and transmitted over a wireless network to a ground station integrating MATLAB/SIMULINK and Robotic Operating System (ROS) and a Model Predictive Controller (MPC) to control both the load and the UAV. To evaluate the system performance, the position of the load determined by the visual detection system in real flight is compared with data received by a motion tracking system. The multi-rotor position tracking performance is also analyzed by conducting flight trials using perfect load position data and data obtained only from the visual system. Results show very accurate estimation of the load position (~5% Offset) using only the visual system and demonstrate that the need for an external motion tracking system is not needed for this task.

Observations on the Architecture of Evil: A New Reading of Eichmann on Kant

En route from Birmingham to Syria in 2013, British-Jihadi neophytes aged 22, Yusuf Sarwar and Mohammed Ahmed purchased two books via Amazon to prepare for their mission in Syria after joining ISIS: The Koran for Dummies and Islam for Dummies. Journalists were swift to disparage their reading. The book’s author, Princeton University campus imam, Sohaib Nazeer Sultan remarked “Even though they may have ordered it, I don't think they read it.” In 1933, aged 27, Adolf Eichmann moved to Berlin to join the Sicherheitsdienst SD whereupon he read Immanuel Kant’s book the Kritik der praktischen Vernunft (The Critique of Practical Reason) for the first time. After his trial in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt of course dismissed Eichmann’s reading of the German philosopher as thoroughly vacuous. Ever since, writers have sought to undermine the veracity of Eichmann’s account. The global Jihadis are illiterate, a journalist recently commented: they’re not well read in the Qur’an, and if they have read it, they have thoroughly misunderstood it. He cited as evidence Abdul Raqib Amin’s YouTube rhetorical: Forget everyone. Read the Koran, read the instruction of life. Find out what is jihad. Eichmann on the other hand was not illiterate in his youth. Before Berlin, he had already read Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals ; he would also re-read the Critique of Practical Reason, and from his testimony and terminology we can infer he was familiar with Kantian concepts that extend beyond both books...

The architecture of the psychiatric milieu

The last time a peer-reviewed volume on the future of mental health facilities was produced was in 1959, following a symposium organised by the American Psychological Association. The consensus was easy enough to follow and still resonates today: the best spaces to treat psychiatric illness will be in smaller, less restrictive units that offer more privacy and allow greater personalisation of space – possibly a converted hotel (Goshen, 1959). In some way, all those ideals have come to pass. An ideal typology was never established, but even so, units have shrunk from thousands of beds to units that typically house no more than 50 patients. Patients are generally more independent and are free to wander (within a unit) as they please. But the trend toward smaller and freer is reversing. This change is not driven by a desire to find the ideal building nor better models of care, but by growing concerns about budgets, self-harm and psychiatric violence. This issue of the Facilities comes at a time when the healthcare design is increasingly dominated by codes, statutes and guidelines. But the articles herein are a call to stop and think. We are not at the point where guidelines can be helpful, because they do not embody any depth of knowledge nor wisdom. These articles are intended to inject some new research on psychiatric/environmental interactions and also to remind planners and managers that guidelines might not tackle a core misunderstanding: fear-management about patient safety and the safety of society is not the purpose of the psychiatric facility. It is purpose is to create spaces that are suitable for improving the well-being of the mentally ill.

Are diverse factors proxies for architectural influences? A case for architecture in the aetiology of schizophrenia

Introduction The last half-century of epidemiological enquiry into schizophrenia can be characterized by the search for neurological imbalances and lesions for genetic factors. The growing consensus is that these directions have failed, and there is now a growing interest in psychosocial and developmental models. Another area of recent interest is in epigenetics – the multiplication of genetic influences by environmental factors. Methods This integrative review comparatively maps current psychosocial, developmental and epigenetic models for schizophrenia epidemiology to identify crossover and theoretical gaps. Results In the flood of data that is being produced around the schizophrenia epidemiology, one of the most consistent findings is that schizophrenia is an urban syndrome. Once demographic factors have been discounted, between one-quarter and one-third of all incidence is repeatedly traced back to urbanicity – potentially threatening more established models, such as the psychosocial, genetic and developmental hypotheses. Conclusions Close analysis demonstrates how current models for schizophrenia epidemiology appear to miss the mark. Furthermore, the built environment appears to be an inextricable factor in all current models and indeed may be a valid epidemiological factor on its own. The reason the built environment hasn’t already become a de rigueur area of epidemiological research is possibly trivial – it just doesn’t attract enough science, and lacks a hero to promote it alongside other hypotheses.

A hybrid agent architecture for modeling autonomous agents in SAGE

This paper highlights the Hybrid agent construction model being developed that allows the description and development of autonomous agents in SAGE (Scalable, fault Tolerant Agent Grooming Environment) - a second generation FIPA-Compliant Multi-Agent system. We aim to provide the programmer with a generic and well defined agent architecture enabling the development of sophisticated agents on SAGE, possessing the desired properties of autonomous agents - reactivity, pro-activity, social ability and knowledge based reasoning. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.

Mechanism design of ventricular assist device

This research presents an innovative design approach for the development of high efficiency Ventricular assist device that can be used for long-term support a heart failure patient. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques were applied to the development and intensive analysis to improve the performance and reliability of the pump. From the CFD analysis, a prototype pump was created and evaluated on the mock circulation loop that simulate the human circulatory system environment to evaluate its performance in support varying heart conditions.

Architecture designed ZnO hollow microspheres with wide-range visible-light photoresponses

It is a challenge to increase the visible-light photoresponses of wide-gap metal oxides. In this study, we proposed a new strategy to enhance the visible-light photoresponses of wide-gap semiconductors by deliberately designing a multi-scale nanostructure with controlled architecture. Hollow ZnO microspheres with constituent units in the shape of one-dimensional (1D) nanowire networks, 2D nanosheet stacks, and 3D mesoporous nanoball blocks are synthesized via an approach of two-step assembly, where the oligomers or the constituent nanostructures with specially designed structures are first formed, and then further assembled into complex morphologies. Through deliberate designing of constituent architectures allowing multiple visible-light scattering, reflections, and dispersion inside the multiscale nanostructures, enhanced wide range visible-light photoresponses of the ZnO hollow microspheres were successfully achieved. Compared to the one-step synthesized ZnO hollow microspheres, where no nanostructured constituents were produced, the ZnO hollow microspheres with 2D nanosheet stacks presented a 50 times higher photocurrent in the visible-light range (λ > 420 nm). The nanostructure induced visible-light photoresponse enhancement gives a direction to the development of novel photosensitive materials.