Open Air Space Research Articles

BARRIO EL PRADO un Museo Vivo para la Ciudad de Barranquilla.

Barranquilla, a city located in an intertropical geographical latitude on the left bank of the Magdalena’s River mouth, is constituted as a conglomerate of pieces due to its urbanization processes. Processes that began an accelerated urban development during the first decades of the 20th century, without an Urban Plan for the management of its vast territory. In the absence of this, bourgeois neighborhoods are drawn up to allocate European Immigrants by the time that other informal neighborhoods appear spontaneously to allocate local and regional immigrants. Among the bourgeois neighborhoods, El Prado neighborhood stands out, developed according to the urbanistic principles of the Modern Movement, following the Garden City model, it constitutes the main urban landmark of the city in the 20th century. That is how El Prado is planned with a continuous urban layout and built in each of its properties, houses, and buildings of architectural styles like those built in the north American and British cities. Among these buildings, which are now patrimonial, stands out: the construction of fifty-four isolated houses for the Barranquilla elite, the El Prado Hotel and the opening of the Country Club. The passing of time has generated functional transformations in the El Prado neighborhood that have modified its symbols and imaginaries. However, the declaration as an Asset of National Cultural Interest, through Resolution 0087 on February 2, 2005, has prevented the structural modification of its architectural heritage pieces, front gardens, courtyards, and most of the plant species, as well as the urban layout. Nowadays there are a confluence of integrated and complementary manifestations that can be lived in the neighborhood and are conjugated with cultural activities developed in the urban space, activities that are linked with cultural and artistic scenarios which by the passing of the time have been set up in the neighborhood. This confluence has generated a synergy between the Garden City model, the typical daily residential life of the Caribbean that inhabits part of the architectural heritage, the culture hosted in heritage buildings and the wide open public spaces, reaffirming the living as a condition to be considered from the heritage understanding as a matter of future. An understanding that, also puts in value the human manifestations that are less recognized, since with it, the territory acquires other potentials. This is how the initiative of the Museo Vivo El Prado promotes this value as a process of urban regeneration. The potential value of the living, structured under the concept of Museum, through the process of urban regeneration, includes the El Prado neighborhood as a territory of key opportunities in cultural management and innovation, through the startup of other economic models that exclude the possibility of gentrification. That is how this research is immersed to an in-depth study of urban regeneration, the understanding of the image of the city as a piece of art and the research on the significance of museums in different instances. Concretizing this way, the conception of the Living Museum as the meaning of urban space that firstly, does not take its collection out of context, but in opposition, is generated around itself, taking advantage of the dynamic, symbiotic, socially balanced spatial and cultural systems in which democratic and spontaneous dynamics that develop, grounds and support an economic, natural and cultural equilibrated system. It is not a matter of creating an untouchable inert environment, but to allowing actions and relationships between visitors and inhabitants that enhance those dynamics. This is how The Museo Vivo El Prado, proposed as a cultural and creative innovation district, will not only generate impact and economic retribution, but it will also make possible the transformation of collective imaginaries, founding their identities and consolidating their image. That will be favored by its initial urban planning energized by the ways of living that happens in this heritage environment, letting it being recognized as its “own brand”, from the territorial marketing, in terms of recognition and promotion within the city, by the incentive of the ‘Orange economy’ that is one of the Colombian National Government goals In this way, the Museo Vivo El Prado is projected from the understanding of the heritage as a matter of future, standing apart from the traditional concept of a museum, this is, as a static, inert and inanimate concept that takes out the collection of its context and uses the buildings as a supports for other artwork. In Opposition the Museo vivo El Prado places the concept of the museum in the dimension of urban management and regeneration combined with creative economy processes, to be handed over to a democratic, public, open-air space. That is how the urban space is the museum itself, its limits are the territory on which the heritage is administratively placed and the sky as its upper border.

The role of cloisters in historical cities

Over the centuries religious architecture had a significant role in social and cultural life of people. In the past sacred architectures with their silent spaces were symbolic sites were the “voice” of God was invoked by religious who dedicated most of their life to prayer and spiritual readings.Among them, the cloisters, with their typical architectural conformation of open-air space protected by galleries or corridors, enriched by fountains and gardens had a relevant role also for their restorativeness' capability. They were used as healing places where body, mind and spirit could benefit from the surrounding environment.Nowadays they are still attended by men of faith, pilgrims and religious believers but also, simply, by people in searching of quietness. Their sight on the sky, the greenery and the water, and their cultural elements still affects strongly the physiological and emotional restoration process of the people and, in overcrowded cities where green areas misses, they can represent a new resource. Recent studies highlighted the possibility to use them as pockets of quiet. The paper describes their diffusion in the urban tissue of some cities in Campania and their main characteristics.

Analysis of the Influence of Transient State of the Overhead Pipeline Placed in an Open-Air Space on the Accuracy of its Insulation Assessment Based on the Results of Outer Shell Thermovision Diagnostics

Abstract The proper thermal diagnostics of pipeline insulation is an important problem. The heat losses from the pipelines depend distinctly on the quality of this insulation. Changes in weather conditions cause transient accumulation of energy in the pipeline insulation and may cause difficulties during evaluation of the quality of the pipeline thermal insulation. Generally, the goal of this investigation was to identify the scale of energy accumulation inside thermal insulation. This is important because during the calculation of heat losses from thermal pipelines on the basis of infrared camera temperature measurement results usually a steady thermal state inside the insulation is assumed. In order to determine the distributions of the temperature inside the insulation, the calculations of the temperature changes inside the pipeline insulation for real changeable meteorological conditions with the use of software ansys-fluent and others have been carried out. Both the heat transfer between the inner pipeline tube and outer pipeline shell and energy accumulation inside the pipeline elements were considered. For the pipeline insulation evaluation purpose, different coefficients for the analysis of energy accumulation scale were defined and used. The measurement results of the temperature of inner pipeline tube and outer pipeline shell gathered during the operation of the special experimental rig were used as input data for the aforementioned numerical simulations. In these calculations, they constituted the first (Dirichlet's) boundary condition. The conclusions resulting from this work are useful for specialists involved in the technical evaluation of the thermal protection features of pipelines.

Study of the Effect of Aging on Precipitation in Wire Drawn and Annealed Aluminum Alloy (AGS)

In this paper, the study of precipitation reaction in the aluminum alloy known as AGS 6101. For the case of Cold drawn wires process in the open air space and at room temperature for two years, we inspect first the presence of precipitates in the microstructure and study the effect of heat treatment on the activation of this phenomenon [1]. The second objective of this work is to see the effect of natural and thermal aging on the microstructural evolution of cold-drawn aluminum wires (AGS) 6101 [2-5]. The characterization methods used in this work are optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction.

Flight activity in pallid swiftsApus pallidusduring the non‐breeding period

Flight activity recorders have recently confirmed that alpine and common swifts spend the majority of their non‐breeding period on the wing, which may last 6–10 months. Here we test the hypothesis that the closely related pallid swift, a species with a breeding distribution around the Mediterranean, lead a similar aerial life‐style during its migration and wintering periods. The pallid swift usually lays two clutches in one season and therefore spends more time in the breeding area than the common swift. We successfully tracked four pallid swifts with data loggers that record light for geolocation and acceleration every 5 min to monitor flight activity. The birds wintered south of the Sahel in west Africa from the Ivory Coast to Cameroon. The pallid swifts spent the majority of their non‐breeding time in flight, especially the first two months after leaving the breeding area in autumn, while a few landing events occurred during the winter. The total time grounded was < 1%, similar to that of the common and alpine swifts. The mass specific flight metabolic rate of swifts is similar to the average non‐breeding metabolic rate of a long distance terrestrial migrant, suggesting swifts are not more likely to procure oxidative damage as a consequence of continuous flight than other migrants. The open airspace used by swifts may provide a relatively safe habitat that explain the high survival rate found in swifts.

From Theory to Practice: Considerations in Opening a New Self-Access Center

The Community Learning International Plaza (CLIP) is a self-access center (SAC) that opened in April 2017 at Ryutsu Keizai University, a sports and economics institution without an English major. The CLIP was founded by two lecturer/advisors (the authors of this paper) and one admin. In our development of the center, we learned from and applied past and present theory to fit the needs of our users. In the beginning, the attractive, centrally-located, open air space consisted solely of furniture, necessitating a quick call to action. To do this, we visited other SACs to gather information about the facilities and programs that might be adapted to fit our student population. There were three overarching aims in designing the center. First, we wanted to instill a sense of active learning through various services, such as free conversation on sofas and one-on-one appointments with a teacher (for speaking practice and advising), as well as clear and separate zones within the center. There is a lenient language policy in the SAC, so learners can develop through translanguaging. Next, we have promoted student ownership through developing an orientation program, starting a student club, and planning to hire student staff. Thirdly, we built relationships and an understanding of SALL with faculty and administration through interdepartmental collaboration in hosting visiting students from an American university and preparing a group of student-athletes to teach rugby in English in Indonesia. Finally, we share future directions for the second year and beyond.

Reenacting Migration, Past and Present

Located at the old harbor of the city of Genoa, the modern Galata Museo del Mare was inaugurated as part of the commemoration of Genoa as the 2004 European Capital of Culture. Only twelve years later, the museum proudly welcomes 200,000 visitors annually into its twenty-eight galleries, organized in an impressive exhibition space of 10,000 square meters, showcasing 4,300 objects. While the aim of the museum is to tell the maritime history of Genoa—ranging from Christopher Columbus to an open-air space showcasing the story of the Genoese shipyard—it is the exhibition on migration to and from Italy that will truly impress the visitor.

Relationships among burn severity, forest canopy structure and bat activity from spring burns in oak–hickory forests

The extent to which prescribed fires affect forest structure and habitats of vertebrate species is an important question for land managers tasked with balancing potentially conflicting objectives of vegetation and wildlife management. Many insectivorous bats forage for insect prey in forested habitats, serving as the primary predators of nocturnal forest insects, and are potentially affected by structural changes in forests resulting from prescribed fires. We compared forest-stand characteristics of temperate oak–hickory forests, as measured with airborne laser scanning (light detection and ranging, LiDAR), with categorical estimates of burn severity from prescribed fires as derived from Landsat data and field-based Composite Burn Indices, and used acoustic monitoring to quantify activity of insectivorous bats in association with varying degrees of burn severity (unburned habitat, low severity and medium severity). Forest-stand characteristics showed greatest separation between low-severity and medium-severity classes, with gap index, i.e. open-air space, increasing with degree of burn severity. Greater mid-storey density, over-storey density and proportion of vegetation in the understorey occurred in unburned habitat. Activity of bats did not differ with burn severity for high-frequency (clutter-adapted or closed-space foragers) or low-frequency (edge or open-space foragers) bats. Results indicate that differing degrees of burn severity from prescribed fires produced spatial variation in canopy structure within stands; however, bats demonstrated no shifts in activity levels to this variation in canopy structure, suggesting prescribed fire during the dormant season, used as a management practice targeting desired changes in vegetation, is compatible with sustaining foraging habitat of insectivorous bats.

Were Sacrifices Offered at Qumran?

Among the most puzzling features at Qumran are deposits of animal bones belonging to sheep, goat, and cattle, mixed with ash, which were placed on the ground between large potsherds or inside jars and covered with little or no earth. The deposits are concentrated in the open air spaces, mainly on the northwest and southeast sides of the site. Following Roland de Vaux, most scholars have interpreted these deposits as the remains of ritual but non-sacrificial meals eaten by the Qumran sectarians. However, comparisons with remains from ancient sanctuaries around the Mediterranean world and Near East leave little doubt that these deposits represent sacrificial refuse and consumption debris. Furthermore, records from de Vaux’s excavations suggest that in the first century B. C. E., an altar was located in an open air space on the northwest side of the site. The possibility that animal sacrifices were offered at Qumran is supported by legislation in sectarian works and in non-sectarian works that were considered authoritative by the sect. This evidence suggests that the Qumran sectarians observed the laws of the desert camp with the tabernacle in its midst, including offering animal sacrifices as mandated by biblical law.

Airplane tracking documents the fastest flight speeds recorded for bats.

The performance capabilities of flying animals reflect the interplay of biomechanical and physiological constraints and evolutionary innovation. Of the two extant groups of vertebrates that are capable of powered flight, birds are thought to fly more efficiently and faster than bats. However, fast-flying bat species that are adapted for flight in open airspace are similar in wing shape and appear to be similar in flight dynamics to fast-flying birds that exploit the same aerial niche. Here, we investigate flight behaviour in seven free-flying Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) and report that the maximum ground speeds achieved exceed speeds previously documented for any bat. Regional wind modelling indicates that bats adjusted flight speeds in response to winds by flying more slowly as wind support increased and flying faster when confronted with crosswinds, as demonstrated for insects, birds and other bats. Increased frequency of pauses in wing beats at faster speeds suggests that flap-gliding assists the bats' rapid flight. Our results suggest that flight performance in bats has been underappreciated and that functional differences in the flight abilities of birds and bats require re-evaluation.

Verification of the plasma diffusion-wave propagation in an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet with the solution of a diffusion equation

The time-dependent solution of diffusion equation by the Fourier integration provides the axial diffusion velocity of a plasma packet, which is a key element of the plasma propagation in a plasma jet operated by the several tens of kHz. The plasma diffusion velocity is higher than the order of un ∼ 10 m/s at a high electric-field region of plasma generation and it is about the order of un ∼ 10 m/s at the plasma column of a low field region in a jet-nozzle inside. Meanwhile, the diffusion velocity is slower than the order of un ∼ 10 m/s in the open-air space where the plasma density flattens due to its radial expansion. Using these diffusion velocity data, the group-velocity of plasma diffusion wave-packet is given by ug ∼ cs2/un, a combination of the diffusion velocity un and the acoustic velocity cs. The experimental results of the plasma propagation can be verified with the plasma propagation in a form of the wave-packet whose propagation velocity is 104 m/s in a tube inside and is as fast as 105 m/s in the open-air space, thereby reconfirming that the theory of a plasma diffusion-wave is the origin of the plasma propagation in a plasma jet.

The jet-stream channels of gas and plasma in atmospheric-pressure plasma jets

A solution to the fluid momentum equation for incompressible steady-state flow is obtained for the streams of gas and plasma inside a jet nozzle and in the open-air space. Three pressure forces are considered in the equation. The first is the pressure force of the shear stress resulting from the flow viscosity and is balanced against the second pressure force of the gas stream that is ejected into the air. The third pressure force is due to the radial expansion of the fluid channel, reducing the velocity of the fluid to zero so that we obtain the reaching distance of the fluid after ejection from the nozzle. From the solution for the fluid channel, the regional profile and the density profile of the plasma flow are also determined. The maximum distance of the gas flow with a critical Reynolds number of Rnc ≈ 2000 is calculated to be 100 times that of the nozzle diameter for Ar, Ne, and He. Because the radial expansion of the plasma is ten times larger than that of neutral gases, the length of the plasma flume is a few tens of the nozzle diameter, which is significantly shorter than the gas flow distance. In the experiments, the maximum length of the plasma plume increases and then saturates as the operation voltage increases.

Were Sacrifices Offered at Qumran?

Among the most puzzling features at Qumran are deposits of animal bones belonging to sheep, goat, and cattle, mixed with ash, which were placed on the ground between large potsherds or inside jars and covered with little or no earth. The deposits are concentrated in the open air spaces, mainly on the northwest and southeast sides of the site. Following Roland de Vaux, most scholars have interpreted these deposits as the remains of ritual but non-sacrificial meals eaten by the Qumran sectarians. However, comparisons with remains from ancient sanctuaries around the Mediterranean world and Near East leave little doubt that these deposits represent sacrificial refuse and consumption debris. Furthermore, records from de Vaux’s excavations suggest that in the first century B. C. E., an altar was located in an open air space on the northwest side of the site. The possibility that animal sacrifices were offered at Qumran is supported by legislation in sectarian works and in non-sectarian works that were considered authoritative by the sect. This evidence suggests that the Qumran sectarians observed the laws of the desert camp with the tabernacle in its midst, including offering animal sacrifices as mandated by biblical law.

Humanitarian Considerations in International Air Law

The downing of civil aircraft over conflict zones presents serious challenges for current international air law, especially regarding powers and responsibilities of public and private entities. Considering the extensiveness of areas experiencing current hostilities, the question of whether public or private entities should take responsibility following such accidents has become a highly topical issue. Under Article 9 of the Chicago Convention, States exercising complete and exclusive sovereignty over their territory are allowed the right to close their flight-paths. Consequently, a critical question arises as to whether States are obliged to close their airspace during times when their territories endure ongoing armed conflicts. In this author's view, the problem results from the varying perceptions concerning fragmentation within the international law system. To protect the safety of civilians in the sky, this article scrutinises the legality of allowing open airspace over conflict zones. It questions the role of ‘elementary considerations of humanity’ in order to draw closer towards a potential harmonisation between the secondary rules of special regimes—air law and humanitarian law.

Use of infrared camera in energy diagnostics of the objects placed in open air space in particular at non-isothermal sky

The important task of the energy sector is to look for the ways of increasing energy efficiency of energy installations. This can be achieved by reducing heat losses. The thermovision technique is a very useful tool in this area. Owing to thermovision inspections it is possible to find the places with excessive heat losses as well as to determine them quantitatively. During the thermovision measurements it is necessary to know the temperature of the surroundings of considered object. A considerable group of energy installations are the objects placed in open air space. In such a case the surroundings constitute the ground and sky which are usually of different temperatures. During infrared inspections only one ambient temperature has to be entered into the camera system. The aim of this work was to develop a method for determination of equivalent ambient temperature representing thermally the surroundings of the object exposed to open air space. The use of long-wave infrared camera for sky temperature measurement has been proposed to carry out this task. Additionally, it has been proposed to use the aforementioned measurement results for the determination of total sky radiation temperature which is useful for radiative heat losses calculation.

A High Throughput Ambient Mass Spectrometric Approach to Species Identification and Classification from Chemical Fingerprint Signatures.

A high throughput method for species identification and classification through chemometric processing of direct analysis in real time (DART) mass spectrometry-derived fingerprint signatures has been developed. The method entails introduction of samples to the open air space between the DART ion source and the mass spectrometer inlet, with the entire observed mass spectral fingerprint subjected to unsupervised hierarchical clustering processing. A range of both polar and non-polar chemotypes are instantaneously detected. The result is identification and species level classification based on the entire DART-MS spectrum. Here, we illustrate how the method can be used to: (1) distinguish between endangered woods regulated by the Convention for the International Trade of Endangered Flora and Fauna (CITES) treaty; (2) assess the origin and by extension the properties of biodiesel feedstocks; (3) determine insect species from analysis of puparial casings; (4) distinguish between psychoactive plants products; and (5) differentiate between Eucalyptus species. An advantage of the hierarchical clustering approach to processing of the DART-MS derived fingerprint is that it shows both similarities and differences between species based on their chemotypes. Furthermore, full knowledge of the identities of the constituents contained within the small molecule profile of analyzed samples is not required.

Bat flight

Bat flight

Conditions for the use of infrared camera diagnostics in energy auditing of the objects exposed to open air space at isothermal sky

AbstractConvective and radiation heat transfer take place between various objects placed in open air space and their surroundings. These phenomena bring about heat losses from pipelines, building walls, roofs and other objects. One of the main tasks in energy auditing is the reduction of excessive heat losses. In the case of a low sky temperature, the radiation heat exchange is very intensive and the temperature of the top part of the horizontal pipelines or walls is lower than the temperature of their bottom parts. Quite often this temperature is also lower than the temperature of the surrounding atmospheric air. In the case of overhead heat pipelines placed in open air space, it is the ground and sky that constitute the surroundings. The aforementioned elements of surroundings usually have different values of temperature. Thus, these circumstances bring about difficulties during infrared inspections because only one ambient temperature which represents radiation of all surrounding elements must be known during the thermovision measurements. This work is aimed at the development of a method for determination of an equivalent ambient temperature representing the thermal radiation of the surrounding elements of the object under consideration placed in open air space, which could be applied at a fairly uniform temperature of the sky during the thermovision measurements as well as for the calculation of radiative heat losses.

Measurement of optical signals as a plasma propagation in the atmospheric pressure plasma jet columns

The propagation of plasma jets with argon gas is characterized in terms of two factors, the effect of electric field distribution along the tube and the effect of voltage polarity, from the observed results of optical signals along the entire column of plasma. The optical signal of plasma propagates from the high electric-field region of high-voltage electrode toward the low field region of the open air-space, regardless of the polarity of the voltage. The optical intensity and the propagation velocity are higher for the positive voltage than for the negative voltage. Moreover, the length of plasma plume exited from the end of the glass tube into the open air is shorter for the negative voltage. When the optical intensity is strong enough, a secondary peak signal follows the primary peak. In the plasma column on the inside of the glass tube, the optical intensity and the propagation velocity depend on the strength of the electric field; they are both high at the high-field region of voltage terminal and decay toward the end of the tube. The velocity is as fast as 104 m/s at the high-field region and slows down to 103 m/s at the low-field region of the glass-tube end. However, the plasma accelerates drastically to be (104–105) m/s after exiting the glass tube toward open air, even though the electric field is a quite low and thus the optical signal decays low before fading out. The experimental observations present in this report are explained with the propagation of the plasma diffusion waves.

Abraham Guz (1929-2014).

How do you describe a giant? As a person of abnormally great stature; above the usual size; or someone with much greater powers than the average person? Abraham Guz (‘Abe’) was not a tall man, but he was a scientific giant with an absolute desire to understand and find the scientific truth. This drive led him to make many original contributions in respiratory and cardiovascular physiology. Indeed, a simple literature search produces over 250 peer reviewed papers spanning some 50 years, the top 25 of which have been quoted over 2500 times. Moreover, most of his outstanding work was published in The Journal of Physiology, and we received it with gratitude because it was always insightful and ahead of its time. Many will argue that counting citations is a poor measure of scientific endeavour and I suspect Abe himself would certainly agree. However, this approach did provide us with a place to start when faced with the task of bringing together Abe's huge and varied scientific contributions.