Categories & order systems: Claude Parent and The Serving Library intersections of architecture, art and editorial design

This paper discusses the work of Claude Parent and The Serving Library, considering the critiques generated by their intersecting of architecture, art and editorial design. Through focus on the ways in which hosting environment, architecture and forms of expanded publishing can serve to dissolve disciplinary boundaries and activities of production, spectatorship and reception, it draws on the lineage of 1960s/70s Conceptual Art in considering these practices as a means through which to escape medium specificity and spatial confinement. Relationships between actual and virtual space are then read against this broadening of aesthetic ideas and the theory of critical modernity.

Optimal control of a class of discrete–continuous non-linear systems — decomposition and hierarchical structure

A technique is derived for solving a non-linear optimal control problem by iterating on a sequence of simplified problems in linear quadratic form. The technique is designed to achieve the correct solution of the original non-linear optimal control problem in spite of these simplifications. A mixed approach with a discrete performance index and continuous state variable system description is used as the basis of the design, and it is shown how the global problem can be decomposed into local sub-system problems and a co-ordinator within a hierarchical framework. An analysis of the optimality and convergence properties of the algorithm is presented and the effectiveness of the technique is demonstrated using a simulation example with a non-separable performance index.

Construction safety and digital design: a review

As digital technologies become widely used in designing buildings and infrastructure, questions arise about their impacts on construction safety. This review explores relationships between construction safety and digital design practices with the aim of fostering and directing further research. It surveys state-of-the-art research on databases, virtual reality, geographic information systems, 4D CAD, building information modeling and sensing technologies, finding various digital tools for addressing safety issues in the construction phase, but few tools to support design for construction safety. It also considers a literature on safety critical, digital and design practices that raises a general concern about ‘mindlessness’ in the use of technologies, and has implications for the emerging research agenda around construction safety and digital design. Bringing these strands of literature together suggests new kinds of interventions, such as the development of tools and processes for using digital models to promote mindfulness through multi-party collaboration on safety

The system identification and control of Hammerstein system using non-uniform rational B-spline neural network and particle swarm optimization

In this paper a new system identification algorithm is introduced for Hammerstein systems based on observational input/output data. The nonlinear static function in the Hammerstein system is modelled using a non-uniform rational B-spline (NURB) neural network. The proposed system identification algorithm for this NURB network based Hammerstein system consists of two successive stages. First the shaping parameters in NURB network are estimated using a particle swarm optimization (PSO) procedure. Then the remaining parameters are estimated by the method of the singular value decomposition (SVD). Numerical examples including a model based controller are utilized to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach. The controller consists of computing the inverse of the nonlinear static function approximated by NURB network, followed by a linear pole assignment controller.

Production of milk foams by steam injection: the effects of steam pressure and nozzle design

Foam properties depend on the physico-chemical characteristics of the continuous phase, the method of production and process conditions employed; however the preparation of barista-style milk foams in coffee shops by injection of steam uses milk as its main ingredient which limits the control of foam properties by changing the biochemical characteristics of the continuous phase. Therefore, the control of process conditions and nozzle design are the only ways available to produce foams with diverse properties. Milk foams were produced employing different steam pressures (100-280 kPa gauge) and nozzle designs (ejector, plunging-jet and confined-jet nozzles). The foamability of milk, and the stability, bubble size and texture of the foams were investigated. Variations in steam pressure and nozzle design changed the hydrodynamic conditions during foam production, resulting in foams having a range of properties. Steam pressure influenced foam characteristics, although the net effect depended on the nozzle design used. These results suggest that, in addition to the physicochemical determinants of milk, the foam properties can also be controlled by changing the steam pressure and nozzle design.

A facile one step synthesis of N-2 substituted 3-phenyliminoisoindolinones from N-(2-carboxybenzoyl)-anthranilic acid and the design of reverse-turn mimetics

Stirring of N-(2-carboxybenzoyl) anthranilic acid with anilines and amines such as p-toluidine, benzylamine, methyl esters of Leu, Phe, Ile and Val in presence of DCC produces N- 2 substituted 3-phenyliminoisoindolinones in very good yields. Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies and solution phase NMR and CD studies reveal that the 3-phenyliminoisoindolinone moiety is a turn-inducing scaffold which should be useful for reverse-turn mimetics.