Conductivity sensor technology application in steady state migration test

In this paper the current development of the steady state migration test was reviewed. Experiments were carried out for a series of concrete mixes with the steady state migration test in which conductivity sensor technology is applied. With the developed steady state migration test, conductivity in anolyte, loop current and temperature can be monitored in real time. The experimental results are conductive to understand the mechanism of chloride migration during both unsteady state and steady state. The conductivity of anolyte could be used to calculate the chloride concentration in anolyte and the theoretical correlation between them was explained. Over all, the developed steady state migration is an effective, convenient, well-defined in theory and plentiful with information method which could be used to determine the chloride diffusion coefficient of cementitious materials.

Dynamic identification of building structures: new strategies:Meccanica dei materiali e delle strutture

In this paper the evolution of a time domain dynamic identification technique based on a statistical moment approach is presented. This technique can be used in the case of structures under base random excitations in the linear state and in the non linear one. By applying Itoˆ stochastic calculus, special algebraic equations can be obtained depending on the statistical moments of the response of the system to be identified. Such equations can be used for the dynamic identification of the mechanical parameters and of the input. The above equations, differently from many techniques in the literature, show the possibility of obtaining the identification of the dissipation characteristics independently from the input. Through the paper the first formulation of this technique, applicable to non linear systems, based on the use of a restricted class of the potential models, is presented. Further a second formulation of the technique in object, applicable to each kind of linear systems and based on the use of a class of linear models, characterized by a mass proportional damping matrix, is described.

Wetting of compacted clays under laterally restrained conditions: Initial state, overburden pressure and mineralogy

Compacted clay fills are generally placed at the optimum value of water content and, immediately after placement, they are unsaturated. Wetting might subsequently occur due, for example, to rainfall infiltration, which can cause volumetric deformation of the fill (either swell or collapse) with associated loss of shear strength and structural integrity. If swelling takes place under partially restrained deformation, due for example to the presence of a buried rigid structure or a retaining wall, additional stresses will develop in the soil and these can be detrimental to the stability of walling elements and other building assets. Factors such as dry density, overburden pressure, compaction water content and type of clay are known to influence the development of stresses. This paper investigates these factors by means of an advanced stress path testing programme performed on four different clays with different mineralogy, index properties and geological histories. Specimens of kaolin clay, London Clay, Belfast Clay and Ampthill Clay were prepared at different initial states and subjected to ‘controlled’ wetting, whereby the suction was reduced gradually to zero under laterally restrainedconditions (i.e. K0 conditions). The results showed that the magnitude of the increase in horizontal stresses (and therefore the increase of K0) is influenced by the overburden pressure, compaction water content, dry density at the time of compaction and mineralogy.

Building pH Sensors into Paper-based Small-molecular Logic Sys-tems for Very Simple Detection of Edges of Objects

Genetically-engineered bacteria and reactive DNA networks detect edges of objects, as done in our retinas and as also found within computer vision. We now demonstrate that simple molecular logic systems (a combination of a pH sensor, a photo acid generator and a pH buffer spread on paper) without any organization can achieve this relatively complex computational goal with good-fidelity. This causes a jump in the complexity achievable by molecular logic-based computation and extends its applicability. The molecular species involved in light dose-driven 'off-on-off' fluorescence is diverted in the ‘on’ state by proton diffusion from irradiated to unirradiated regions where it escapes a strong quencher, thus visualizing the edge of a mask.

Session organiser/chair: Architecture, Infrastructure and the Making of Modern Ireland

‘A free Ireland would drain the bogs, would harness the rivers, would plant the wastes, would nationalise the railways and the waterways, would improve agriculture, would protect fisheries, would foster industries, would promote commerce, and beautify the cities …’ (Padraig Pearse, ‘From a Hermitage’, 1913)

Somewhat unusually in his often romantic writings Padraig Pearse – poet, pedagogue and revolutionary – chose to describe the future of an independent Ireland in terms of infrastructure and technological processes. Terence Brown’s locating of this excerpt at the beginning his seminal work Ireland: A Social and Cultural History 1922-2002 highlights the simultaneous and interlinking construction of both a new physical and cultural landscape for an independent modern nation. Lacking any significant industrial complex, the construction of new infrastructures in Ireland was seen throughout the 20th century as a key element in the building of the new State, just as the adoption of an international style modernism in architecture was perceived as a way to escape the colonial past. For Paul N. Edwards modernity and infrastructure are intimately connected.

‘infrastructures simultaneously shape and are shaped – in other words, co-construct – the condition of modernity. By linking macro, meso, and micro scales of time, space and social organisation, they form the stable foundation of modern social worlds’ (2003: 186).
Simultaneously omnipresent and invisible – infra means beneath – Edwards also points out that infrastructure tends only to become apparent when it is either new or broken. Interpreting the meso scale as being that of the building, this session calls for papers that critically and analytically investigate aspects of the architectures of infrastructure in 20th-century Ireland. Like the territory they explore these papers may range across scales to oscillate between a concern for the artefact and its physical landscape, and the larger, often hidden systems and networks that co-define this architecture.

Infra-Éireann: Making Ireland Modern - Irish Pavilion for the 14th Architectural biennale, Venice 2014.

After an open competition, we were selected to commission, curate and design the Irish pavilion for the Venice biennale 2014. Our proposal engage with the role of infrastructure and architecture in the cultural development of the new Irish state 1914-2014. This curatorial programme was realised in a demountable, open matrix pavilion measuring 12 x 5 x 6 metres.

How modernity is absorbed into national cultures usually presupposes an attachment to previous conditions and a desire to reconcile the two. In an Irish context, due to the processes of de-colonisation and political independence, this relationship is more complicated.

In 1914, Ireland was largely agricultural and lacked any significant industrial complex. The construction of new infrastructures after independence in 1921 became central to the cultural imagining of the new nation. The adoption of modernist architecture was perceived as a way to escape the colonial past. As the desire to reconcile cultural and technological aims developed, these infrastructures became both the physical manifestation and concrete identity of the new nation with architecture an essential element in this construct.

Technology and infrastructure are inherently cosmopolitan. Beginning with the Shannon hydro-electric facility at Ardnacrusha (1929) involving the German firm of Siemens-Schuckert, Ireland became a point of various intersections between imported international expertise and local need. By the turn of the last century, it had become one of the most globalised countries in the world, site of the European headquarters of multinationals such as Google and Microsoft. Climatically and economically expedient to the storing and harvesting of data, Ireland has subsequently become an important repository of digital information farmed in large, single-storey sheds absorbed into dispersed suburbs. In 2013, it became the preferred site for Intel to design and develop its new microprocessor board, the Galileo, a building block for the internet of things.

The story of the decades in between, of shifts made manifest in architecture and infrastructure, from the policies of economic protectionism to the embracing of the EU is one of the influx of technologies and cultural references into a small country on the edges of Europe: Ireland as both a launch-pad and testing ground for a series of aspects of designed modernity.

Constitutional Questions

Constitutional Questions
Professor John Morison MRIA School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast
How should we live together? Is there any ethical question more fundamental than this?
Is a constitution only about who does what in government or is it about what is to be done? Does a constitution provide the ground rules for deciding this or is it part of the answer itself? Is it the repository of fundamental values about how to live? What is the good life anyway? Is it about the preservation of life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Or something more? What about preserving (or radically reordering) the distribution of property? Or ensuring that everyone has the same chances? Is it the job of the constitution to simply promise dignity, equality and freedom, or to deliver these values?
If the constitution is the place where the state undertakes “to promote the welfare of the whole people”, what does this actually mean in practical terms? And who pays for it? Should a constitution give us an entitlement to at least a basic minimum by way of a lifestyle? Or is it the job only of the political process to decide issues about the allocation of resources? What do we do if we feel that we cannot trust our politicians? Are there basic rules that should govern the operation of politics and are there fundamental values that should not be overridden? Are these “sacred and undeniable”? Or to be interpreted in line with modern conditions and within a “margin of appreciation”? Who decides on this in individual cases?
Who is entitled to any of this, and on what basis? Is everyone equal? Is the constitution about making it clear that no-one is better than you, and that in turn, you are better than no-one? Is a constitution about ensuring that you will always be an end in yourself and never simply a means to anyone else’s end? Or does it simply reinforce the existing distribution of power and wealth?
Are citizens to be given more than those who are not citizens? Is more to be expected from them, and what might that be? Can the constitution tell us how we should treat those from outside who now live with us?
What is the relationship between a constitution and a nation? Who is in the nation anyway? Should we talk about “we the people” or “we the peoples”? Should a constitution confirm a nationality or facilitate diversity? Is the constitution the place to declare aspirations for a national territory? Or to confirm support for the idea of consent? What about all our neighbours – on the island of Ireland and in Great Britain? Or in Europe? And beyond?
What is the relationship between a constitution and democracy? Is a constitution simply the rules by which the powerful govern the powerless? In what sense does a constitution belong to everyone, across past, present and future generations? Is it the place where we state common values? Are there any? Do they change across time? Should the people be asked about changes they may want? How often should this be done? Should the constitution address the past and its problems? How might this be done? What do we owe future generations?
Finally, if we can agree that the constitution is about respecting human rights, striving for social justice and building a fair and democratic Ireland – North and South – how do we make it happen in practice?

Search for a New International System

The crisis in Ukraine has three separate but closely linked causes, which must be understood before any long-term solution is found. The three causes are unstable post-Soviet borders, Ukrainian difficulties in state- and nation- building, and Russia’s frustration with the post-Cold War status quo, believes Dr Alexander Titov, who insists that the search for a new international system is taking shape through this current crisis in Europe

Efficiency analysis of flat plate collectors for building facade integration

A theoretical approach has been used to evaluate the performance of facade integrated solar collectors based on the physical collector parameters such as absorber plate absorptance, transmittance of the glazed cover plate and insulation thickness. A 1D steady state model, based on the Hottel Whillier Bliss equation, was employed to determine the effect of changing parameters to meet façade integration criteria.

Making Ireland Modern

Making Ireland Modern is a cross-disciplinary, inter-institutional, inter-media design and research project which emerged from an open competition (won by Boyd and McLaughlin) to commission/curate the Irish pavilion for the Venice biennale 2014. It explores the relationship between architecture, infrastructure and technology in the building of a new nation. Constructed as a demountable, open matrix of drawings, photographs, models and other artefacts, the exhibition (12 x 5 x 6 metres) presents ten infrastructural episodes – Negation, Electricity, Health, Transportation, Television, Aviation, Education, Telecommunications, Motorways, Data – spanning a period of one hundred years from 1916-2016. Exploring a range of scales from the detail design of objects to entire landscapes and other territories, Making Ireland Modern describes architecture’s role in transforming the physical and cultural identity of the new state through its intersession in the everyday lives of its population. In 2015, we were commissioned by the Arts Council of Ireland to expand and develop the pavilion for a three cities tour of Ireland as one of the five major strands of the Arts Council’s Art2016 programme of Irish State’s 1916-2016 centennial celebrations (2016).

Políticas, conceções e práticas dominantes do ensino superior em Moçambique

O presente trabalho começa por analisar a evolução dos sistemas ao longo de vários períodos históricos, bem como os conceitos e tipologias que os sustentam, no quadro da problemática e da conceptualização teórica do ensino superior. A origem da universidade na idade média, na Europa e em outras partes do mundo, fundamenta-se, principalmente, na procura do saber e nas condicionantes socioeconómicas da época. A evolução da universidade sustentada pela narrativa da modernidade, resultou em modelos diferenciados de ensino superior, que mantinham, no entanto, a razão e a epistemologia do conhecimento académico, como fatores unificadores. O modelo utilizado para traduzir a referida evolução, é proposto por Scott (1995) e configura a relação que se estabelece entre a universidade e outras formas de ensino superior. Na sequência do desenvolvimento dos sistemas, suscitados pelas relações entre os diversos atores envolvidos no ensino superior, procurou-se evidenciar a relação entre o Estado o mercado e os académicos, bem como outros atores sociopolíticos, institucionais e da sociedade civil. O quadro de análise dos mecanismos de coordenação destas envolventes, baseou-se no “Triângulo de Clark”, complementado com o modelo da “Metáfora da Flutuação”. Desde o início da década de 80 do século XX, que a missão, o modo de organização e o funcionamento das IES têm vindo a ser questionadas, como resultado das mudanças económicas de cariz neoliberal. Este cenário, propiciador de crises e de transformações, não tem impedido, porém, de manter o papel fundamental da universidade como produtora e difusora do conhecimento. No contexto da globalização e da cada vez maior influência do mercado no ensino superior, procura-se impor um modelo hegemonizado de racionalidade económica, competitividade e eficiência - o managerialismo. Não obstante alguns êxitos, esta ideologia não tem sido completamente bem-sucedida. Aliás, à tentativa da globalização de gerar uma ordem uniformista, têm sido contrapostos modelos de recontextualização que procuram refletir as realidades locais. Embora num reduzido número de países, África, registou formas de ensino superior endógenas, no período pré-colonial. Depois do espectro colonial que mantém, ainda hoje, a sua influência, os sistemas debatem-se na atualidade com diferentes dilemas, originados pelas correntes da globalização. Porém, o ensino superior em África assume um papel central no contexto do desenvolvimento dos diferentes países contribuindo, igualmente, para a construção da Nação e da sua identidade. Esta dimensão, não é impeditiva do seu envolvimento, nos desafios da sociedade e da economia do conhecimento, buscando, ao mesmo tempo, modelos e práticas equilibradoras, que proporcionem uma resposta satisfatória às necessidades sociais e económicas, nacionais e regionais. Ao enquadrar o sistema de ensino superior em Moçambique merecem destaque as etapas do processo histórico, nomeadamente o surgimento dos estudos gerais universitários como primeira forma de ensino superior mais tarde transformada em universidade, a mudança de paradigma após a independência nacional, a abertura ao setor privado e, ainda, a expansão do sistema. A discussão sobre políticas e estratégias é sustentada pela análise dos respetivos planos estratégicos bem como, pela compreensão das leis fundamentais e respetivos documentos reguladores. Este conjunto de instrumentos concorre para a reforma do sistema, que se procura implementar em Moçambique. Nesta sequência, é de salientar o debate público realizado em torno das qualificações e graus oficialmente estabelecidos, que parece constituir uma problemática ainda não completamente resolvida. Numa outra parte do trabalho, procede-se à apresentação e análise dos resultados de uma investigação sobre o ensino superior em Moçambique. Seguindo uma metodologia de análise qualitativa, foi possível estruturar a informação obtida, em diferentes dimensões e categorias. A informação foi recolhida e tratada, a partir de entrevistas efetuadas a diferentes grupos de atores, direta ou indiretamente relacionados com o ensino superior em Moçambique. Os resultados da análise conduziram à sistematização de um conjunto de linhas de força e ao traçar de conclusões, contributivas para a melhoria do quadro de referência sobre políticas, conceções e práticas do ensino superior em Moçambique.

Quasi steady state and dynamic hygrothermal performance of fibrous Hemp and Stone Wool insulations: Two innovative laboratory based investigations

Moisture and heat management properties of Hemp and Stone Wool insulations were studied by mounting them between a hot and a cold climate chamber. Both insulations were exposed to identical hygrothermal boundary conditions. Quasi steady state and dynamic tests were carried out at a range of relative humidity exposures. The likelihood of interstitial condensation was assessed and equivalent thermal conductivity values of the insulations were determined. The adsorption-desorption isotherms of the insulations were also determined in a dynamic vapour sorption (DVS) instrument. It was observed that the likelihood of condensation was higher in Stone Wool insulation than in Hemp insulation. Hemp insulation performed better in managing moisture due to its high hygric inertia and water absorption capacity. It was observed that the equivalent thermal conductivity of Stone Wool insulation was dependent on enthalpy flow and phase change of moisture. The equivalent thermal conductivity of Hemp insulation was close to its declared thermal conductivity in dynamic conditions when high relative humidity exposures were transient. In quasi steady state boundary conditions, when the insulation was allowed to reach the equilibrium moisture content at ranges of relative humidity, there was a moisture dependent increase of thermal conductivity in Hemp insulation.

A Corpus-Linguistic Analysis of News Coverage in Kenya's Daily Nation and Great Britain's Times

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2015

Contrastive terminology: semitic, anglo-germanic and latin concept building through complex terms. (avoiding one-way method procedures in translation

This paper aims to present a contrastive approach between three different ways of building concepts after proving the similar syntactic possibilities that coexist in terms. However, from the semantic point of view we can see that each language family has a different distribution in meaning. But the most important point we try to show is that the differences found in the psychological process when communicating concepts should guide the translator and the terminologist in the target text production and the terminology planning process. Differences between languages in the information transmission process are due to the different roles the different types of knowledge play. We distinguish here the analytic-descriptive knowledge and the analogical knowledge among others. We also state that none of them is the best when determining the correctness of a term, but there has to be adequacy criteria in the selection process. This concept building or term building success is important when looking at the linguistic map of the information society.

Proposed Improvement of the Iowa State Capitol Grounds, An Address before the Iowa Chapter American Institute of Architects at the State Historical Buiding, Des Moines, Iowa, October 22, 1913.

Concerning improvements to the State Capitol Grounds including placement of the Allison memorial and Soldiers and Sailor's momuments; removal of heating plant and relieving the state of coal, ashes, gas and smoke; provision of office space to the Adjutant General; an eventual executive mansion; provision of office buildings; and for a Supreme Court building where together with its library auxiliaries will have perpetual growth and constant accessbility; and propose restoration of natural scenic value of the capitol site.