Modern Design Research Articles

Neighbourliness in concrete: modern construction, ethnic labour and the architectures of New York Italians

‘Neighbourliness in concrete’ assesses the intertwined histories of modern construction and Italian migration in New York City at the turn of the twentieth century. Through the analysis of architecture, construction, and union journals of the period along with the voices of social reformers, ministers, and other intellectuals, the article contends that the adoption of concrete construction did not follow an uncontested technical revolution, as it is often discussed, but was critically mediated by labour debates, social clashes, and ethnic conflicts decisively involving Italian migrant workers, who constituted a majority amongst concrete labourers at the time in New York City. The article situates these debates in relation to the definition of these migrants as ‘neighbours’ — linking negotiations amongst trades and ethnicities in the construction site to contemporaneous discussions on collective housing models in the American metropolis. It explores how new forms of ‘neighbourliness’ defined in these two sites were simultaneously framed by industrialisation, capitalism, nationalism, and migration throughout this formative period for both the Italian and American republics. Coming fundamentally from the south of their country, Italian migrant workers struggled to identify (and be recognised) as both members of the new Italian nation and as American citizens and, rather than easily fitting in any of the ‘imagined communities’ defined for the two republics, they constituted themselves as a material one. Modern architecture, the article concludes, was both dependent on and the catalyst for negotiations of neighbourliness in concrete.

Development of Low-Weight and High-Strength AA6005A Extrudates Intended for Modern Architecture and Design of Innovative Die for Extrusion Process.

In the realm of modern architecture, the demand for materials that combine strength, durability, and aesthetic flexibility is ever-growing. Addressing this need, this paper presents a study on the innovative use of aluminum extrudates in construction. Focusing on the AA6005 alloy, which is known for its excellent balance of strength, corrosion resistance, and weldability, this research delves into the development of an extrusion process that yields thin-walled, lightweight, yet high-strength structural components. Using FEM simulations, a new extrudate of the AA6005A was developed. It is compatible with standard façade systems, with high-strength properties and a weight reduced by 20% compared to that of conventional extrudates made of the AA6063 alloy. Using CAD engineering and FEM simulations of aluminum extrusion process, an innovative die was designed for the extrusion process, ensuring uniform flow of metal from the bearing and minimizing the elastic deflection of the die. This resulted in an increase in the extrusion velocity of thin-walled extrudate from AA6005A by 24% compared to conventional profiles extruded from AA6063. As part of the research, a trial test was carried out in production conditions and the quality of the extrudates was tested by 3D optical scanning, mechanical and structural properties tests, and microstructure observation.

Modern architectural landscape planning and design based on environmental sensors and 3D point cloud processing

With the continuous development of modern technology, the application of sensor technology in architectural landscape planning and design is becoming increasingly widespread. The combination of environmental sensors and 3D point cloud processing technology provides new possibilities for modern architectural landscape planning and design. Environmental sensors can provide accurate environmental data support for the design process by monitoring the climate conditions of the building site in real-time, better understanding the natural environmental characteristics of the building site, and making targeted planning and design. Environmental sensors can accurately measure the intensity and direction of light, helping designers arrange the layout and window design of buildings to maximize the use of natural lighting. By monitoring and analyzing temperature data, the design team can effectively optimize the energy consumption management of buildings and improve their energy efficiency performance. The combination of 3D point cloud processing technology and environmental sensor data accurately restores the real environment of the building site to a digital model, allowing designers to conduct comprehensive spatial analysis and design. This digital and intelligent design process improves the precision and efficiency of design, allowing the design team to better understand the environmental characteristics of the building site and achieve intelligent and personalized landscape design, Injecting new vitality and creativity into future architectural planning and design.

From finance to legacy: Exploring Bank of China’s modern buildings as serial cultural heritage

In the early 20th century, China underwent profound societal transformations across cultural, political, economic, and military domains, culminating in the birth of its first national bank, the Bank of China. Enduring for over a century, the Bank of China stands as a testament to the emergence and evolution of a modern nation-state. The edifices housing this paramount institution, as well as their geographical locations and architectural designs, serve as prime examples for studying modern Chinese architecture and social history. This article, rooted in field surveys, traces the development history and current conservation status of the 26 existing Bank of China buildings. It analyzes their locations, construction backgrounds, architectural features, and functional uses. Through an assessment of the historical, artistic, scientific, and socio-cultural values of these bank buildings, this study employs the perspective of “serial cultural heritage” to propose a value-based thematic interpretation aimed at revitalization. In particular, it accentuates that analyses and interpretation of values are fundamental prerequisites for rebuilding and displaying the cultural identity of these buildings.

On the limitations of adversarial training for robust image classification with convolutional neural networks

Adversarial Training has proved to be an effective training paradigm to enforce robustness against adversarial examples in modern neural network architectures. Despite many efforts, explanations of the foundational principles underpinning the effectiveness of Adversarial Training are limited and far from being widely accepted by the Deep Learning community. Moreover, very few research works investigated the limitations of robust Convolutional Neural Networks beyond the well-known accuracy drop on natural images. In this paper, we describe surprising properties of these models, shedding light on mechanisms through which robustness against adversarial attacks is implemented. We also highlight limitations and failure modes that were not discussed in prior works. Through extensive analyses on a wide range of architectures and datasets, we empirically demonstrate that adversarially-trained Convolutional Neural Networks do not exploit efficiently the model capacity and that the simplicity biases induced by Adversarial Training may lead to undesired behaviors.

Formation of the "treaty security" system of Ukraine as a component of the modern architecture of international peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area

Formation of the "treaty security" system of Ukraine as a component of the modern architecture of international peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area

Biological and ecological characteristics of representatives of the genus Rosa L. (introduction, fruit characteristics, use)

In the steppe region an increase in the level of environmental pollution inevitably leads to a deterioration in the ecological condition of all components of ecosystems and leads to growth in the incidence of diseases among the population of the territory. It is possible to strengthen the natural immunity of the human body due to the introduction into the diet of products that contain biologically active compounds obtained from fruits, leaves, roots, etc. of representatives of the flora. Such plants include, first of all, representatives of the genus Rosa L. The high prophylactic and therapeutic effect of rose hips is confirmed by modern research by scientists. Among the vitamins that are part of the fruit, the highest content of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Physiological and ecological studies of plants of the genus Rosa, in particular, indicators of success of introduction and vitamin C content, were carried out on the territory of the Botanical Garden of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University (DNU). It was found that due to their decorative properties and high-vitamin fruits, these plants are indispensable in the conditions of the steppe Dnieper region. Representatives of the genus Rosa are characterized by a variety of life forms and the specifics of the architectonics of the crown, the shape and color of the leaves and abundant flowering. It is shown that the climatic conditions of the new place of growth directly affect the growth and formation of shoots, and the annual cycle of plant development has its own characteristics, which are manifested during the growth of shoots, differentiation, the phase of physiological rest or forced dormancy depending on the geographical origin of species. Rose hips also differ in the size of fruits and seeds. Large fruit sizes and a significant number of seeds were observed both in the local species R. canina and in some introduced species of R. micrantha, R. iberica, R. hugoni. In the species R. multiflora and R. borboniana, small fruits and a small number of seeds were found. In this group of plants significant interest is associated with the high content of vitamin C in their fruits, which should not be destroyed during storage. As a result of our many years of research, it has been found that during fruit drying, there is a certain loss of ascorbic acid depending on the species characteristics of plants. The vitamin is best preserved in the fruits of R. rugosa (up to 58%) and R. hugonis (up to 55%). Other types are recommended to be used fresh. In addition, rose hips are highly decorative plants with long flowering and brightly colored fruits, which allows you to use this group of plants when creating compositions in modern landscape design.

Communicative potential of stop-motion animation in the practice of modern design

The relevance of the research is determined by the need to substantiate and implement effective visualnarrative media formats for creating effective visual communications capable of clearly conveying messages and ideas to the viewer. The purpose of the work is to reveal and evaluate the communicative potential of stop-motion animation in the context of audiovisual practices of modern design. Research methodology is formed by general scientific and special methods, in particular, comparative and historical analysis, scientific analysis and synthesis, methods of visual observation, modeling, art history and content analysis. The research substantiates the technical techniques, formal and artistic approaches of stop-motion and reveals their influence on the communicative potential of animation in the context of various project tasks. The effectiveness of the tools of stop-motion animation in modern audiovisual design practices for increasing the emotional involvement of the audience and improving the perception of content due to attractiveness and experimentation has been proven. The ability of stop-motion animation for detail, visual saturation, expressiveness and emotional expressiveness can play a key role in solving design problems where a deep narrative impact needs to be achieved. The paper substantiates the expediency of using the main technical techniques of stop-motion animation in the implementation of specific conceptual project tasks, in particular in short animated films of various genres, in advertising videos, in art projects, where the goal can be achieved due to the high artistic characteristics of the visual series, interactivity and emotional interaction with the viewer. The practical value of the work is determined by the possibility of implementing the research results into practical recommendations for the implementation of specific projects. The results of the research can be useful in the academic community for the further development of the theoretical foundations of stop-motion animation and the expansion of project approaches in educational courses related to audiovisual art and visual communication

Statistical analysis of observational studies in disability research.

Observational studies have a critical role in disability research, providing the opportunity to address a range of research questions. Over the past decades, there have been substantial shifts and developments in statistical methods for observational studies, most notably for causal inference. In this review, we provide an overview of modern design and analysis concepts critical for observational studies, drawing examples from the field of disability research and highlighting the challenges in this field, to inform the readership on important statistical considerations for their studies. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: Descriptive research questions have specific analytical complexities, so careful statistical design before analysis is critical. Prediction research aims to produce a model with good predictive ability and requires thorough statistical design prior to analysis. Causal research requires careful statistical analysis planning, facilitated by modern causal inference concepts and analytical methods. Adopting these approaches will strengthen the quality of observational studies addressing a range of research questions in the disability space.

Explore the Transformation and Application of Paper Cutting Art in Modern Brand Visual Design

As a treasure of Chinese traditional folk art, paper-cut art has been inherited for thousands of years. Its unique hollow out effect and profound cultural connotation make it glow with new glory in the modern brand visual design. In the modern brand visual design, the transformation and application of paper-cut art not only enrich the design forms, but also endow the brand with unique cultural connotation and visual impact. Therefore, this paper explores the transformation and application of paper-cut art in the modern brand visual design, aiming to provide some reference value for the sustainable development of the modern brand visual design industry, and make the best contribution.

INFLUENCE OF SILK ROAD CULTURE ON MODERN DESIGN: ARTISTIC FEATURES OF CHINESE BROCADE PATTERNS

Goal: this study aims to analyze the influence of Silk Road culture on the style of brocade patterns in the Tang and Ming Dynasties of China, as well as to consider the practices of using brocade motifs of ancient dynasties in modern design. Methodology: based on the research of scientific literature, this article compares and analyses the stylistic characteristics of brocade patterns: connected beads, curly grass, treasure and cloud; the analysis makes it possible to trace the process of formation and evolution of brocade patterns in the Tang Dynasty. The methods of figurative and stylistic, formal analysis, methods of systematisation, and processing of results are also involved. Results. The study pointed out that the opening of the Silk Road promoted cultural exchanges between East and West, and the prosperity of politics, economy, and culture in the Tang Dynasty promoted the diversity and development of patterns. The above-mentioned motives, through integration with foreign cultures, formed symmetrical beauty, curvilinear beauty, and symbolic characteristics of Tang Dynasty patterns. In the example of the creativity of the modern Chinese designer Chen Liwen, the transformation of the motif «Tiger Sniffs the Rose» and the image of the Chinese tiger of the Ming Dynasty period in the development of modern design products is shown. Scientific novelty. This article reveals the historical evolution of the popular brocade patterns in the Tang and Ming Dynasties of China, summarizes his unique artistic style, and provides inspiration for contemporary clothing innovation design. Practical significance. The significance of this study lies in providing historical data for the integration of ethnic cultures and demonstrating the overall characteristics and evolution process of the Tang and Ming Dynasties patterns.

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND INNOVATIVE DESIGN OF QIANG COSTUMES

Рurpose. This paper analyzes the evolution process and cultural connotation of Qiang costume form, discusses the application form of Qiang costume elements in modern clothing design, and provides a theoretical basis for the innovative design of national costumes. Methodology. The field research method, literature analysis method, and case study method are used to analyze the evolution process, cultural connotation, and design application of Qiang costumes. Results. By studying the development process and style design changes of the Qiang costumes, it is concluded that its unique cultural connotation and design characteristics are closely related to the social characteristics, production methods and religious beliefs of the Qiang people. It is the materialized expression of the Qiang people's world outlook and national psychology. It reveals the reasons for the change of the Qiang costume modelling and proposes the method of using ethnic elements in modern costume design. Scientific novelty. This paper studies the development process of Qiang costume shape from the perspective of design, history, ethnology and anthropology, and puts forward that Qiang costume is the materialized expression form of local people 's world outlook, values and aesthetics, and clarifies that the change of Qiang costume shape is influenced by religious culture and Han-Tibetan culture. Suggestions are made in the form of integration of national costume elements with modern clothing design. Practical significance. The Qiang costume has been fused with other ethnic cultures in the course of historical changes, which is both inherited and changed, which is very inspiring to modern costume design. Digging deeper into the cultural connotation and design language of Qiang costume, so that it can innovate the design method and explore the design carrier while inheriting the national culture, so as to provide reference for the creation of a costume design that can embody both the traditional Chinese culture and the sense of the times.

Improving non-destructive testing methods for detecting cavity damage and internal defects in stone cultural relics: A focus on ultrasonic testing and acoustic tapping technology

This study employs advanced ultrasonic tomography and Grasshopper software to investigate the internal anomalies within stone materials. We aim to enhance the non-destructive testing (NDT) methods with potential applications extending to modern architecture and stone engineering. Cavity damage and internal defects threaten the structural stability of stone cultural relics. Traditional non-destructive testing methods, while practical, have limitations in assessing these relics comprehensively. This paper proposes an enhanced ultrasonic testing method based on mathematical analysis to accurately detect cavity damage in stone cultural relics. We also investigate imaging techniques for internal defects, combining ultrasonic testing with Grasshopper software for efficient and accurate defect characterization. Additionally, we introduce an acoustic tapping method for detecting internal defects in ancient building stones. Verified through field tests and data analysis, this method is non-invasive, accurate, and fast. The process of detecting stone defects using this technology, along with data analysis methods, experimental results, and application effects, are detailed. This research contributes to the improved preservation and restoration of ancient buildings and extends to other fields, such as modern architecture and stone engineering, highlighting its significance in cultural heritage conservation.

Analysis of the Influence of Peripheral Light Shelves on Building Lighting

Due to the design problems in modern architecture, it often appears that although the sunlight of the building is sufficient, the lighting quality of the building interior is not good. Due to the reasons of lighting, shading and interior layout, the phenomenon of glare and uneven distribution of light often occurs in buildings. Therefore, it is recommended to use light shelves to reduce problems such as glare and improve the indoor light environment comfort. The effects of six different widths and five different heights of peripheral light shelves on DF, UDI, GA and Uniformity Ratio of Daylighting are analyzed. The results show that the width and height of light shelves have no improvement effect on DF. The height of the light shelves has an improvement effect on indoor UDI, but the width does not; The width and height of light shelves can improve GA and Uniformity Ratio of Daylighting.

Designing new energy markets to promote renewables

The drive toward decarbonization has spurred the growth of renewable energy sources, reshaping energy production and consumption patterns. As the energy landscape evolves, so must the market design supporting it to steer the integration of renewable energy. Addressing the challenges of promoting distributed renewable energy is paramount for developing a cleaner energy system and meeting decarbonization targets. This study presents a modern market design that efficiently integrates renewable energy sources, long-term contracts, and flexibility technologies into a single evolved market framework. The approach described herein provides proper price signals for diverse assets and decouples renewable energy from fossil fuels, ensuring economic viability and efficient integration. Taking into consideration key barriers and drivers, the findings provide insights for perfecting energy markets, meeting decarbonization targets, and guiding policymaking to boost cleaner energy systems.

Influence of Shear Strain on the Deflection of Girders

Numerical calculations are a standard part of modern structural design. Engineers remain particularly interested in real problems where analytical and numerical solutions can be compared with experimental results. Such cases are typical examples of benchmarks because they are used to verify the assumptions introduced. This study shows in detail how shear stresses affect the deflection of a relatively short and high cantilever when the span-to-height ratio of the cross-section is less than five. Such models are frequently used in the design of cantilevers that support heavily loaded beams, for example in the cement industry (e.g., often as structural elements for a heat exchanger system) or for the assessment of short cantilever limit states that appear during excavation in rock sediments. The models are also suitable for designing the various details and joints in the industry of prefabricated elements. This work analyzes in depth the analytical solutions for the displacement field of the linear elastic plane stress theory with two displacement boundary conditions. Also, the solutions were compared with the beam, two-, and three-dimensional numerical models using SAP2000. The results highlight the fundamental principles and solutions behind plane stress and beam theories, with an insight into the advantages and limitations of such models. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2024-010-05-04 Full Text: PDF

Numerical and analytical investigation of thermal hydraulic behavior of large pools in passive heat exchangers

Passive residual heat removal safety systems are a modern design concept employed in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), and operate based on natural circulation. Several passive safety systems such as the emergency condensers (EC) use heat exchanger tube bundles immersed in large pools of coolant acting as a heat-sink (secondary side). The primary side of the heat exchanger is connected to the reactor core and, when activated, removes the decay heat in case of an accident. Recent research revealed the limitation of the state-of-the-art heat transfer models to capture the heat transfer rates achieved in these systems. The problems can be identified in both – primary and the secondary sides. The main focus of this study is to investigate the thermal hydraulic behavior of the secondary side of an EC. The data from the NOKO test facility has been considered as the validation base of this study. It has been observed that strong temperature stratification establishes in the pool due to the heat transfer process happening in a confined volume zone. Under this condition, the saturation temperature is reached at higher elevations of the tank while lower the liquid remains subcooled. This leads to different thermal behavior of the liquid at different elevations in the tank which is not properly captured by simple models. In addition, due to the complexity of the heat transfer process the required computational power is another challenge to study the thermal hydraulic behavior of the system. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to correctly predict the temperature stratification in the pool and identify boiling onset at different locations specially on the heated surfaces, while maintaining minimum numerical complexity. To achieve these targets, 2D multi-phase CFD simulations of secondary side using two different frameworks was conducted using ANSYS Fluent. Then, the results were validated against experimental data to assess their accuracy to achieve the best simulation approach.

LordNet: An efficient neural network for learning to solve parametric partial differential equations without simulated data

Neural operators, as a powerful approximation to the non-linear operators between infinite-dimensional function spaces, have proved to be promising in accelerating the solution of partial differential equations (PDE). However, it requires a large amount of simulated data, which can be costly to collect. This can be avoided by learning physics from the physics-constrained loss, which we refer to it as mean squared residual (MSR) loss constructed by the discretized PDE. We investigate the physical information in the MSR loss, which we called long-range entanglements, and identify the challenge that the neural network requires the capacity to model the long-range entanglements in the spatial domain of the PDE, whose patterns vary in different PDEs. To tackle the challenge, we propose LordNet, a tunable and efficient neural network for modeling various entanglements. Inspired by the traditional solvers, LordNet models the long-range entanglements with a series of matrix multiplications, which can be seen as the low-rank approximation to the general fully-connected layers and extracts the dominant pattern with reduced computational cost. The experiments on solving Poisson’s equation and (2D and 3D) Navier–Stokes equation demonstrate that the long-range entanglements from the MSR loss can be well modeled by the LordNet, yielding better accuracy and generalization ability than other neural networks. The results show that the Lordnet can be 40× faster than traditional PDE solvers. In addition, LordNet outperforms other modern neural network architectures in accuracy and efficiency with the smallest parameter size.

Research on Cultural and Creative Product Design of Bengbu Museum Based on Bronze Artifacts

By analyzing the historical background and cultural value of Bengbu bronzes, combining with modern design concepts and market demand, we excavate the connotation of bronze culture, combine it with contemporary lifestyle, and create cultural and creative products with regional characteristics and the spirit of the times, in order to promote the innovation and inheritance of traditional culture, and to enrich the people's aesthetic experience and way of life.

A variational reformulation of molecular properties in electronic-structure theory.

Conventional quantum-mechanical calculations of molecular properties, such as dipole moments and electronic excitation energies, give errors that depend linearly on the error in the wave function. An exception is the electronic energy, whose error depends quadratically on the error in wave function. We here describe how all properties may be calculated with a quadratic error, by setting up a variational Lagrangian for the property of interest. Because the construction of the Lagrangian is less expensive than the calculation of the wave function, this approach substantially improves the accuracy of quantum-chemical calculations without increasing cost. As illustrated for excitation energies, this approach enables the accurate calculation of molecular properties for larger systems, with a short time-to-solution and in a manner well suited for modern computer architectures.