Addition Of New Layers Research Articles

Conserving the Historical Identity of North Nicosia Walled City: Exploring Design Approaches and Implications from 1983 to 2003

Nicosia Walled City, on the northern side of Cyprus, encapsulates historical imprints from various cultures and civilizations within its layered structure, despite being a divided city since 1974. Based on this beautiful Medieval sequence, this study investigates the implications of architectural design approaches aimed at incorporating contemporary architecture into this heterogeneous historic city to conserve its historical identity. While the threats facing this diverse built heritage composition are various, the changes brought about by design outcomes and development actions can be challenging. This is especially so when designers are obligated to adhere to conservation principles that clash with the city’s character and that resort to design strategies that prohibit the addition of new layers. This study employed a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods and examined three case studies based on buildings that were erected during the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus period, spanning from 1983 to when the crossing began in 2003. This study’s conclusions revealed that the design schemes negatively impacted the city’s historical identity layers because the designers followed selective conservation principles that entirely concentrated on nostalgia rather than typological values. Rather than creating new layers, preferences energized this problem, and the designers’ attitudes towards the place’s heterogeneous character maintained the same context uniformity patterns. Efforts to add sequences of layers reflecting the identity of the present time and its perceptions were thwarted. These reductions in the historical layers, the subsequent transformations, and the current social–cultural necessities should stimulate individual determination and practical policy instruments. The tools proposed here will accommodate inclusive ideas that encourage fresh dialogues with the past, thus keeping the city’s identity significant for the future.

Instrumental monitoring of ore stockpile stability in heap leaching area

The current trend in open pit mineral mining is the increased recovery of nonferrous metals by heap leaching of oxidized ore on the shallow horizons. This article presents the case-study of Aktogai open pit copper mine having the project depth to 500 m. To implement heap leaching, ore stockpiling is carried out on ground surface, on a weak clayey and slightly sloped bottom, by layers 12–15 m high. The proposed instrumental monitoring procedure for the stockpiles in the heap leaching area uses a pillar of improved design, arranged below the depth of freezing and outside the potential displacement zone for the installation of an electronic tacheometer and check points with optical reflectors, stiffly bound with the ore stockpile using concrete. The high-precision geodetic measurements allow surveying in a single vertical plane using the check points arranged in the profile cross-section in the area of heap leaching. The values of displacements are determined both in vertical and horizontal planes of the ore stockpile. It is found that the stockpile body undergoes continuous compaction due to the permanent addition of new layers. The deformation mechanism of the stockpile is governed by the continuous stress, which is proved by the displacement values of the check points. In the middle of the stockpile, continuous compaction takes place at a rate up to 7.07 mm/day, while at the slope bottom of the stockpile, slight horizontal displacements toward the support pillar are observed at a rate to 4.90 mm/day. According to the current guidance procedures, such rates of displacement are not hazardous for the production process, as the threshold is 10 mm/day, but continuous instrumental monitoring of the ore stockpile stability in the heap leaching areas is required to reveal maximum allowable displacements and prevent landsliding.

Design and analysis of a growable artificial gravity space habitat

The goal of this study is to show the feasibility of designing a space habitat that advances the ability of humans to live in space for long periods. We first review the previous work on space explorations and summarized five unsolved fundamental problems: providing gravity, radiation protection, sustainable life support system, a large open space for human physiological and psychological comfort (survivable by professionals in trades other than highly trained astronauts), and a growth strategy to avoid the economic infeasibility of starting with the largest final version of the habitat. We present a detailed design of a rotating shielded habitat system and a growth strategy by repeated addition of new layers, without disturbing the inhabitants of the current habitat. The tensegrity paradigm is used to design the structure and to optimize the mass and cost of the habitat. Then, a detailed discussion of the structural dynamics and attitude control is given. Based on the human needs of temperature, cosmic radiation protection, atmosphere, clean water, food, physical fitness, and mental health, a life support system is demonstrated to show the livable environment under thermal and energy equilibrium. This habitat, space village one, allows a long-term human presence in space such as space tourism, interstellar travel, space mineral mining, Mars colonization, etc.

Modern approach to design a distributed and scalable platform architecture for smart cities complex events data collection

Abstract Throughout decades, many concepts to renovate cities have surfaced such as digital city, green city, smart cities and so forth, so that citizens can reach urban services and exercise their activities easily with respect to the environment’s sustainability, by limiting energy waste, optimization of urban infrastructure costs, automation of many routines and efficient allocation of human resources. In effect, decision makers varying from government administrations to private sector have log started using information technology asa mean of to evolve cities, and maintain a consistent correlation between the population culture and the environment they live in, moreover, the solutions they came up with where specific to many problems but unique to each one, as efficient as it may seem to be. Moreover, the technology sector was long ago mature enough to turn inanimate objects into smart objects that interact with each other, and send data. As a result, these solutions make it possible to extract a great amount of data, which is used to turn future predictions more accurate. Nevertheless, the technical solutions are not designed to cover data from multiple sectors, and if so, they lack the possibility to be extended with new sector layers without going through a whole development processes that can turn the old system obsolete. Therefore, as a solution in this paper, to cover new aspects and facilitate addition of new layers of data types, we brought out an abstract layer to cover not only natural events (temperature, humidity, water level, noise) that occurs in the urban field of a city, but also, urban events for example: train arrivals, accidents (traffic, security infringements), population concentration variation, etc, we called it complex events.Furthermore, we also present the architecture of a system that is scalable and supports the variety of complex events, how it collects and broadcast it to external actors.

Message Passing Receivers for Generalized Media-Based Modulation Signals

We consider generalized media-based modulation (GMBM), where transmit antennas and radio frequency (RF) mirrors (which are parasitic elements placed near the transmit antennas as digitally controlled scatterers) are indexed simultaneously to convey information bits. We develop low complexity receiver algorithms for the detection of high-rate, large-dimension GMBM signals. Message passing-based detection is a promising low-complexity approach. The elements in a GMBM transmit vector are interdependent. Message passing with a multi-layering approach is proposed to take care of this dependency. The proposed multi-layering approach decouples the dependencies through the addition of new layers and constraints that account for the antenna activation and RF mirror activation patterns. The proposed message passing detection with multi-layering, termed as multi-layered message passing detection , is shown to outperform message passing detection without multi-layering and constraints. In addition to exploiting multi-layering, the channel hardening property of large MIMO channels is exploited for GMBM signal detection and channel estimation. The algorithm based on this approach is termed as multi-layered channel hardening-exploiting message passing algorithm . The proposed algorithms scale well in complexity and achieve good bit error performance in high-rate, large-dimension GMBM systems.

Using KDF material to improve the performance of multi-layers filters in the reduction of chemical and biological pollutants in surface water treatment

Multi-layers filters are usually used in conventional water treatment plants to purify water, reduce turbidity, and remove plankton and undesired odours. Multi-layers filter consists of basic layers represented in graded sand and supporting gravel layers. This research aims to study the efficiency of such filters after the addition of new layers made of copper and zinc particles by 50% per each with high purity, which are traditionally called KDF (Kinetic Degradation Fluxion). The purpose of adding such layers is to increase the efficiency of filters in the removal of diverse chemical contaminants of heavy elements (Lead, Nickel, iron, etc.), and chlorine to use them in traditional or advanced filter stations, such reverse osmosis plants or ion exchange water filters. A glass tube was filled with KDF, sand and gravel layers and used as a multi-layer's filter, and tests were carried out on a water sample that has been prepared in the lab with concentration of 2 mg/l for heavy elements and 5 mg/l for chlorine. Flow rates of the tested water sample were 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 l/hr. The results show a very high efficiency of such filters to remove of chlorine from the treated water by 90% and more, while the efficiency of the modified filter to remove lead, nickel and iron was 92%, 88%, and 67% respectively; however, there was no significant records in removing the biological contaminants.

Oxidation characteristics of porous-nickel prepared by powder metallurgy and cast-nickel at 1273 K in air for total oxidation time of 100 h

The oxidation behavior of two types of inhomogeneous nickel was investigated in air at 1273K for a total oxidation time of 100h. The two types were porous sintered-nickel and microstructurally inhomogeneous cast-nickel. The porous-nickel samples were fabricated by compacting Ni powder followed by sintering in vacuum at 1473K for 2h. The oxidation kinetics of the samples was determined gravimetrically. The topography and the cross-section microstructure of each oxidized sample were observed using optical and scanning electron microscopy. X-ray diffractometry and X-ray energy dispersive analysis were used to determine the nature of the formed oxide phases. The kinetic results revealed that the porous-nickel samples had higher trend for irreproducibility. The average oxidation rate for porous- and cast-nickel samples was initially rapid, and then decreased gradually to become linear. Linear rate constants were 5.5×10−8g/cm2s and 3.4×10−8g/cm2s for the porous- and cast-nickel samples, respectively. Initially a single-porous non-adherent NiO layer was noticed on the porous- and cast-nickel samples. After a longer time of oxidation, a non-adherent duplex NiO scale was formed. The two layers of the duplex scales were different in color. NiO particles were observed in most of the pores of the porous-nickel samples. Finally, the linear oxidation kinetics and the formation of porous non-adherent duplex oxide scales on the inhomogeneous nickel substrates demonstrated that the addition of new layers of NiO occurred at the scale/metal interface due to the thermodynamically possible reaction between Ni and the molecular oxygen migrating inwardly.

Optimizing road milling and resurfacing actions

A condition-based maintenance optimization approach is developed for the road-cracking problem in order to derive optimal maintenance policies that minimize a total discounted maintenance cost. The approach is based on a Markov decision process that takes into account multiple actions with varying effects on future road performance. Maintaining the road consists of adding a new asphalt layer; however, as resurfacing actions are constrained by a maximum total road thickness, the maintenance decision is not only how thick a layer to apply, but also how much old road to remove. Each combination of these actions leads to different maintenance costs and different future degradation behaviours. The road state is modelled by a dependent bivariate deterioration variable (the longitudinal cracking percentage and the deterioration growth rate), for taking these different changes in the cracking patterns into account. Moreover, the sensitivity to cracking for existing roads can be reduced with the addition of new layers, and thus actions that can lead to states better than good-as-new have to be considered. A numerical analysis is provided to illustrate the benefits of the introduction of the deterioration speed in the decision framework, as well as the belief that initially building a road to its maximum thickness is not optimal. The trade-offs in the design decisions and the exploitation/maintenance costs are also explored.

Three‐Dimensional Polymer Constructs Exhibiting a Tunable Negative Poisson's Ratio

Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of a porous polymeric construct (scaffold) quantitatively describe how it supports and transmits external stresses to its surroundings. While Young's modulus is always non-negative and highly tunable in magnitude, Poisson's ratio can, indeed, take on negative values despite the fact that it is non-negative for virtually every naturally occurring and artificial material. In some applications, a construct having a tunable negative Poisson's ratio (an auxetic construct) may be more suitable for supporting the external forces imposed upon it by its environment. Here, three-dimensional polyethylene glycol scaffolds with tunable negative Poisson's ratios are fabricated. Digital micromirror device projection printing (DMD-PP) is used to print single-layer constructs composed of cellular structures (pores) with special geometries, arrangements, and deformation mechanisms. The presence of the unit-cellular structures tunes the magnitude and polarity (positive or negative) of Poisson's ratio. Multilayer constructs are fabricated with DMD-PP by stacking the single-layer constructs with alternating layers of vertical connecting posts. The Poisson's ratios of the single- and multilayer constructs are determined from strain experiments, which show (1) that the Poisson's ratios of the constructs are accurately predicted by analytical deformation models and (2) that no slipping occurrs between layers in the multilayer constructs and the addition of new layers does not affect Poisson's ratio.

A model-based investigation of the potential advantages of multi-layer packed beds in solid-state fermentation

We use a mathematical model, based on the N-tanks-in-series approach, to evaluate the potential advantages that can be obtained in solid-state fermentation processes by operating packed-bed bioreactors as multi-layer beds. We explore classical operation, in which air is blown unidirectionally through a substrate bed that remains immobile, with two strategies that involve movement of the layers. The first strategy involves batch operation, in which the positions of the layers are changed at 1 h intervals, in a cycling motion. The second strategy involves continuous plug-flow of the layers, with the regular addition of new layers at the air outlet and removal of spent layers at the air inlet. Under the conditions of the simulation, the rate of metabolic heat generation during the steady state of the continuous plug-flow process is only 60% of the peak value predicted for classical operation. As a result, the maximum bed temperature in the continuous plug-flow process is 4.5 °C lower than that predicted for classical operation. We conclude that the operation of multi-layer packed beds in the continuous plug-flow mode can improve bioreactor performance significantly.

The role of losses in subwavelength imaging

For the lenses proposed by J. Pendry and N. Engheta, the image degradation that occurs owing to deviation of the parameters of the metamaterial used from the parameters required to form the image is investigated. It is shown that a single-layer structure permits a 2% deviation of the parameters from the specified values and that the real parts of deviations may affect the image stronger than the presence of losses. The multilayer lenses obtained by the addition of new layers to a single-layer lens are shown to be less stable against deviations.

Hierarchy and feedback in the evolution of the Escherichia coli transcription network

The Escherichia coli transcription network has an essentially feedforward structure, with abundant feedback at the level of self-regulations. Here, we investigate how these properties emerged during evolution. An assessment of the role of gene duplication based on protein domain architecture shows that (i) transcriptional autoregulators have mostly arisen through duplication, whereas (ii) the expected feedback loops stemming from their initial cross-regulation are strongly selected against. This requires a divergent coevolution of the transcription factor DNA-binding sites and their respective DNA cis-regulatory regions. Moreover, we find that the network tends to grow by expansion of the existing hierarchical layers of computation, rather than by addition of new layers. We also argue that rewiring of regulatory links due to mutation/selection of novel transcription factor/DNA binding interactions appears not to significantly affect the network global hierarchy, and that horizontally transferred genes are mainly added at the bottom, as new target nodes. These findings highlight the important evolutionary roles of both duplication and selective deletion of cross-talks between autoregulators in the emergence of the hierarchical transcription network of E. coli.

Analysing stacking disorder with a genetic algorithm

A disordered stacking of layers is described in terms of probabilities governing the addition of new layers to a stack. The diffuse scattering exhibited by such stacks takes the form of diffuse lines perpendicular to the layers and can be represented as a function of the stacking probabilities in closed form [1]. The corresponding expression becomes increasingly unwieldy, as the number of layers affecting the probabilities increases. In this work we have determined the probabilities with a numerical procedure based on a genetic algorithm. The crystal structure of tris(bicyclo[2.1.1ηexeno)-benzene, 1, shows layers of coplanar molecules with layer symmetry p6bar2m. Consecutive layers may assume one of three positions with probabilities depending on the position of the three preceding layers. Initially the probabilities have been estimated by visually comparing measured diffuse intensities with those calculated from a complicated analytical function of the probabilities [2]. We have redetermined these probabilities using an adaptation of a genetic algorithm described earlier [3]. The mean values and their standard deviations from 20 sets of three probabilities obtained after 113 generations of optimization are 0.08(1), 0.60(4) and 0.46(4) in good agreement with the values derived from the analytical approach, 0.08(2), 0.56(6) and 0.46(10). Although the general structure of maxima andminima is reproducedwell (Fig.1), their relative heights indicate room for further improvement of the structuralmodel, e.g. by tilting themolecules out of the plane and adjusting the displacement parameters. These quantities are presently optimized with the genetic algorithm.

Development of multibank rod retinae in deep-sea fishes.

We studied the development of multibank rod retinae by monitoring the size-related addition of new layers of rod inner and outer segments in four species of deep-sea fishes and found two different growth paradigms. In the mesopelagic Chauliodus sloani, new banks of rod inner and outer segments are added as long as the fish increases in size, as observed earlier by Locket (1980). By contrast, in three bathybenthic species (Antimora rostrata, Corvphaenoides (Coryphaenoides) guentheri, and Coryphaenoides (Nematonurus) armatus), the final complement of banks is reached when the specimens have grown to between 20 and 47% of their maximal size, suggesting that the visual system is mature only after this stage. Increase in retinal area, density of rod nuclei, and densities of rod inner and outer segments were also studied in these and additional species. Taken together with previous data on rod proliferation patterns and outer segment membrane synthesis, our findings indicate that at least in species with no continual addition of new banks, there is no major functional difference between the innermost and outermost banks of rod inner and outer segments. While Chauliodus spends all its life in the mesopelagic environment, the three bathybenthic species live in this environment during early development and descend towards greater depths only upon maturation. We speculate that this coincides with the stage when the full complement of rod banks is formed in the retina, as a possible prerequisite for a life outside the reach of sunlight.

Interfacial tension in confined molecularly-thin films

The grand-canonical ensemble Monte Carlo method has been used to study the interfacial tension in a rare-gas film confined to a slit pore whose plane-parallel walls comprise rigidly fixed similar rare-gas atoms. In narrow pores, where both walls strongly influence the whole film, the interfacial tension is shown to be a highly complex function of pore width and transverse alignment of the walls. Oscillations in the tension are correlated with the addition of new fluid layers, the most highly structured layers corresponding to maxima in the tension. Separate interlayer and intralayer contributions to the tension are defined and shown to be useful in explaining the physics of the change in the interfacial tension with the addition of new layers to the film.