An investigation of nucleation events in a coastal urban environment in the southern hemisphere

The occurrence of and conditions favourable to nucleation were investigated at an industrial and commercial coastal location in Brisbane, Australia during five different campaigns covering a total period of 13 months. To identify potential nucleation events, the difference in number concentration in the size range 14-30 nm (N14-30) between consecutive observations was calculated using first-order differencing. The data showed that nucleation events were a rare occurrence, and that in the absence of nucleation the particle number was dominated by particles in the range 30-300 nm. In many instances, total particle concentration declined during nucleation. There was no clear pattern in change in NO and NO2 concentrations during the events. SO2 concentration, in the majority of cases, declined during nucleation but there were exceptions. Most events took place in summer, followed by winter and then spring, and no events were observed for the autumn campaigns. The events were associated with sea breeze and long-range transport. Roadside emissions, in contrast, did not contribute to nucleation, probably due to the predominance of particles in the range 50-100 nm associated with these emissions.

Determination of particle concentration in the breathing zone for four different types of office ventilation systems

Many factors affect the airflow patterns, thermal comfort, contaminant removal efficiency and indoor air quality at individual workstations in office buildings. In this study, four ventilation systems were used in a test chamber designed to represent an area of a typical office building floor and reproduce the real characteristics of a modern office space. Measurements of particle concentration and thermal parameters (temperature and velocity) were carried out for each of the following types of ventilation systems: a) conventional air distribution system with ceiling supply and return; b) conventional air distribution system with ceiling supply and return near the floor; c) underfloor air distribution system; and d) split system. The measurements aimed to analyse the particle removal efficiency in the breathing zone and the impact of particle concentration on an individual at the workstation. The efficiency of the ventilation system was analysed by measuring particle size and concentration, ventilation effectiveness and the Indoor/Outdoor ratio. Each ventilation system showed different airflow patterns and the efficiency of each ventilation system in the removal of the particles in the breathing zone showed no correlation with particle size and the various methods of analyses used.

The digital practice ecosystem : supporting change in the construction industry through digital practice

The Digital Practice Ecosystem is a network of professional architectural, engineering and contracting firms, government agencies and professional bodies, academic, educational, and research institutions that have the shared goal of fostering changes in the construction industry through applications of digital practice. Changing the process of designing and constructing buildings using digital models will improve quality and efficiency and reduce costs allowing completion on time and on budget.

In the beginning...

Professor John Frazer and architect Gianni Botsford met as tutor and student in 1994 at the Architural Association. Two years of never talking about architecture and nearly burning the studio down led to a new way of approaching design.

Lateral bone density variations in the scoliotic spine

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is the most common deformity of the spine, affecting 2-4% of the population. Previous studies have shown that the vertebrae in scoliotic spines undergo abnormal shape changes, however there has been little exploration of how AIS affects bone density distribution within the vertebrae. Existing pre-operative CT scans of 53 female idiopathic scoliosis patients with right-sided main thoracic curves were used to measure the lateral (right to left) bone density profile at mid-height through each vertebral body. This study demonstrated that AIS patients have a marked convex/concave asymmetry in bone density for vertebral levels at or near the apex of the scoliotic curve. To the best of our knowledge, the only previous studies of bone density distribution in AIS are those of Périé et al [1,2], who reported a coronal plane ‘mechanical migration’ of 0.54mm toward the concavity of the scoliotic curve in the lumbar apical vertebrae of 11 scoliosis patients. This is comparable to the value of 0.8mm (4%) in our study, especially since our patients had more severe scoliotic curves. From a bone adaptation perspective, these results suggest that the axial loading on the scoliotic spine is strongly asymmetric.

Concerning the house museum and the picturesque landscape in the work of Sir John Soane : with raw hints for post-heritage museum space

The picturesque aesthetic in the work of Sir John Soane, architect and collector, resonates in the major work of his very personal practice – the development of his house museum, now the Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London. Soane was actively involved with the debates, practices and proponents of picturesque and classical practices in architecture and landscape and his lectures reveal these influences in the making of The Soane, which was built to contain and present diverse collections of classical and contemporary art and architecture alongside scavenged curiosities. The Soane Museum has been described as a picturesque landscape, where a pictorial style, together with a carefully defined itinerary, has resulted in the ‘apotheosis of the Picturesque interior’. Soane also experimented with making mock ruinscapes within gardens, which led him to construct faux architectures alluding to archaeological practices based upon the ruin and the fragment. These ideas framed the making of interior landscapes expressed through spatial juxtapositions of room and corridor furnished with the collected object that characterise The Soane Museum. This paper is a personal journey through the Museum which describes and then reviews aspects of Soane’s work in the context of contemporary theories on ‘new’ museology. It describes the underpinning picturesque practices that Soane employed to exceed the boundaries between interior and exterior landscapes and the collection. It then applies particular picturesque principles drawn from visiting The Soane to a speculative project for a house/landscape museum for the Oratunga historic property in outback South Australia, where the often, normalising effects of conservation practices are reviewed using minimal architectural intervention through a celebration of ruinous states.

Competing in the new economy through large scale collaborative ventures (LSCV): a strategic marketing approach based on a study of the multifunction polis.

This paper draws on a study of government initiat ives aimed at facilitating economic development, specifically the Multifunction Polis Feasibility Study involving the governments and business enterprises of Australia and Japan (1987-1991). Large scale projects that involve collaboration between gove rnment and business (termed: large scale collaborative venture LSCV)are identified as one aspect of competing in the new economy . The study pursued the research propos ition that a LSCV can be effectively facilitated by following a theory based process similar to those in corporate practice. An approach to managing such ventures is outlined, based on strategic marketing theory that may enhance their success and thereby help countries part icipate more successfully in global competition through such ventures.

Work at hand : an exploration of gesture in the context of work and everyday life to inform the design of gestural input devices

This research explores gestures used in the context of activities in the workplace and in everyday life in order to understand requirements and devise concepts for the design of gestural information applicances. A collaborative method of video interaction analysis devised to suit design explorations, the Video Card Game, was used to capture and analyse how gesture is used in the context of six different domains: the dentist's office; PDA and mobile phone use; the experimental biologist's laboratory; a city ferry service; a video cassette player repair shop; and a factory flowmeter assembly station. Findings are presented in the form of gestural themes, derived from the tradition of qualitative analysis but bearing some similarity to Alexandrian patterns. Implications for the design of gestural devices are discussed.

Knowledge-Based Urban Development : Planning and Applications in the Information Era

In the globalizing world, knowledge and information (and the social and technological settings for their production and communication) are now seen as keys to economic prosperity. The economy of a knowledge city creates value-added products using research, technology, and brainpower. The social benefit of knowledge-based urban development (KBUD); however, extends beyond aggregate economic growth.

A multiliteracies project in the middle school : Parents as coteachers

This paper examines the experiences of one middle years’ English and Studies of Society and Environment (SoSE) teacher who adopted a multiliteracies project-based orientation to a unit on War and Refugees. It details the multiliteracies teaching and learning cycle, which is based on four non-hierarchical, pedagogical orientations: situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice (New London Group, 2000; Kalantzis & Cope, 2005a). Following the work of Kalantzis and Cope (2005a), it draws out the knowledge processes exacted in each of these four phases: experiencing the known and the new; conceptualising by naming and theorising; analysing functionally and critically; and, applying appropriately and creatively. Two parents were invited to enter the study as coteachers with the teacher and researcher. Using Bourdieu’s (1992) construct of capital, the findings report on how the multiliteracies approach enabled them to engage in school-based literacy practices differently than they had done previously in classrooms. An unexpected finding concerns the teacher’s altered view about how his role and status were perceived by the parents.

Maintaining human agency in the design on context-aware systems : Design games in a dental surgery

This paper describes a series of design games, specifically aimed at exploring shifts in human agency in order to inform the design of context-aware applications. The games focused on understanding information handling issues in dental practice with participants from a university dental school playing an active role in the activities. Participatory design activities help participants to reveal potential implicit technical resources that can be presented explicitly in technologies in order to assist humans in managing their interactions with and amidst technical systems gracefully.

Towards ubiquitous city : concept, planning, and experiences in the Republic of Korea

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) had occupied their position on knowledge management and are now evolving towards the era of self-intelligence (Klosterman, 2001). In the 21st century ICTs for urban development and planning are imperative to improve the quality of life and place. This includes the management of traffic, waste, electricity, sewerage and water quality, monitoring fire and crime, conserving renewable resources, and coordinating urban policies and programs for urban planners, civil engineers, and government officers and administrators. The handling of tasks in the field of urban management often requires complex, interdisciplinary knowledge as well as profound technical information. Most of the information has been compiled during the last few years in the form of manuals, reports, databases, and programs. However frequently, the existence of these information and services are either not known or they are not readily available to the people who need them. To provide urban administrators and the public with comprehensive information and services, various ICTs are being developed. In early 1990s Mark Weiser (1993) proposed Ubiquitous Computing project at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre in the US. He provides a vision of a built environment which digital networks link individual residents not only to other people but also to goods and services whenever and wherever they need (Mitchell, 1999). Since then the Republic of Korea (ROK) has been continuously developed national strategies for knowledge based urban development (KBUD) through the agenda of Cyber Korea, E-Korea and U-Korea. Among abovementioned agendas particularly the U-Korea agenda aims the convergence of ICTs and urban space for a prosperous urban and economic development. U-Korea strategies create a series of U-cities based on ubiquitous computing and ICTs by a means of providing ubiquitous city (U-city) infrastructure and services in urban space. The goals of U-city development is not only boosting the national economy but also creating value in knowledge based communities. It provides opportunity for both the central and local governments collaborate to U-city project, optimize information utilization, and minimize regional disparities. This chapter introduces the Korean-led U-city concept, planning, design schemes and management policies and discusses the implications of U-city concept in planning for KBUD.