Universal Building Research Articles

Putting DNA to Work as Generic Polymeric Materials

AbstractDNA is a true polymer that stores the genetic information of an organism. With its amazing biological and polymeric characteristics, DNA has been regarded as a universal building block for the construction of diverse materials for real‐world applications. Through various approaches including ligation, polymerization, chemical crosslinking, and physical crosslinking, both pure and hybrid DNA gels have been developed as generic materials. This Review discusses recent advances in the construction of DNA‐based networks without considering any of DNA′s genetic properties. In addition, we highlight the biomedical and non‐biomedical applications of DNA as generic materials. Owing to the superb molecular recognition, self‐assembly, and responsiveness of DNA, a mushrooming number of DNA materials with various properties have been developed for general utilization.

Putting DNA to Work as Generic Polymeric Materials.

DNA is a true polymer that stores the genetic information of an organism. With its amazing biological and polymeric characteristics, DNA has been regarded as a universal building block for the construction of diverse materials for real-world applications. Through various approaches including ligation, polymerization, chemical crosslinking, and physical crosslinking, both pure and hybrid DNA gels have been developed as generic materials. This Review discusses recent advances in the construction of DNA-based networks without considering any of DNA's genetic properties. In addition, we highlight the biomedical and non-biomedical applications of DNA as generic materials. Owing to the superb molecular recognition, self-assembly, and responsiveness of DNA, a mushrooming number of DNA materials with various properties have been developed for general utilization.

The Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Anchor: A Linchpin for Cell Surface Versatility of Trypanosomatids.

The use of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) to anchor proteins to the cell surface is widespread among eukaryotes. The GPI-anchor is covalently attached to the C-terminus of a protein and mediates the protein’s attachment to the outer leaflet of the lipid bilayer. GPI-anchored proteins have a wide range of functions, including acting as receptors, transporters, and adhesion molecules. In unicellular eukaryotic parasites, abundantly expressed GPI-anchored proteins are major virulence factors, which support infection and survival within distinct host environments. While, for example, the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) is the major component of the cell surface of the bloodstream form of African trypanosomes, procyclin is the most abundant protein of the procyclic form which is found in the invertebrate host, the tsetse fly vector. Trypanosoma cruzi, on the other hand, expresses a variety of GPI-anchored molecules on their cell surface, such as mucins, that interact with their hosts. The latter is also true for Leishmania, which use GPI anchors to display, amongst others, lipophosphoglycans on their surface. Clearly, GPI-anchoring is a common feature in trypanosomatids and the fact that it has been maintained throughout eukaryote evolution indicates its adaptive value. Here, we explore and discuss GPI anchors as universal evolutionary building blocks that support the great variety of surface molecules of trypanosomatids.

A new opportunity for the emerging tellurium semiconductor: making resistive switching devices

The development of the resistive switching cross-point array as the next-generation platform for high-density storage, in-memory computing and neuromorphic computing heavily relies on the improvement of the two component devices, volatile selector and nonvolatile memory, which have distinct operating current requirements. The perennial current-volatility dilemma that has been widely faced in various device implementations remains a major bottleneck. Here, we show that the device based on electrochemically active, low-thermal conductivity and low-melting temperature semiconducting tellurium filament can solve this dilemma, being able to function as either selector or memory in respective desired current ranges. Furthermore, we demonstrate one-selector-one-resistor behavior in a tandem of two identical Te-based devices, indicating the potential of Te-based device as a universal array building block. These nonconventional phenomena can be understood from a combination of unique electrical-thermal properties in Te. Preliminary device optimization efforts also indicate large and unique design space for Te-based resistive switching devices.

Effect of PCB as partial replacement of fine aggregate and coarse aggregate in concrete

Concrete, being a universal building material it is used as a medium to dispose of industrial by-products and waste materials in it. This may improves certain characteristics when its used as filler material or binder. This action also reduce the harmful environmental hazards by dumping those materials directly onto the earth. In this study, electronic wastes – Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) was used as replacement to aggregate. This PCB was expelled out from the hardware industry and used in study for development of e-concrete. Owing to its lower recycling rate, it steadily becomes perilous to the environment thus paving way for an ecological imbalance. The utilization of PCB as aggregates in concrete may also mitigate the cost of construction by minimizing the usage of the aggregates procured from nature thus inducing greener concrete. This experimental study is an attempt to introduce the PCB as a partial substitute for both the fine aggregate and coarse aggregate at different percentages of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. The e-concrete thus developed and compared with conventional concrete for its mechanical properties and long-term behaviour against sulfate attack. The results indicate that replacing both the fine aggregate and coarse aggregate at 5% tend to improve the concrete behaviour adequately enabling the PCB as an ideal choice of replacement thus providing a safer choice to eliminate this e-waste without affecting the ecological balance.

Ground-based automated construction of droxel structures: An experimental approach

This manuscript presents a recently developed automated robotic system for the deployment of block-based structures. The main structural component used for the construction of the specimens is the droxel: a universal building component recently developed by the authors. The herein presented work builds on such research to create new software and hardware capabilities to deploy droxel-based structures autonomously, by means of ground robotic operations. First, the paper describes the designed mechanical components and the experimental setup. Then, the main features of the ad-hoc designed software tools will be presented, together with the salient results of the experimental campaign. Different experiments on various types of structures (e.g., shelters and bridges) constructed by means of an ABB IRB120 robotic arm will be presented and quantification of the efficiency of the operations will be discussed. Quantitative description of the stability of the structures under construction, as well as capability of deploying full scale versions of different structural system is then discussed and conclusions and recommendations drawn.

Principles of low dissipation computing from a stochastic circuit model

We introduce a thermodynamically consistent, minimal stochastic model for complementary logic gates built with field-effect transistors. We characterize the performance of such gates with tools from information theory and study the interplay between accuracy, speed, and dissipation of computations. With a few universal building blocks, such as the NOT and NAND gates, we are able to model arbitrary combinatorial and sequential logic circuits, which are modularized to implement computing tasks. We find generically that high accuracy can be achieved provided sufficient energy consumption and time to perform the computation. However, for low-energy computing, accuracy and speed are coupled in a way that depends on the device architecture and task. Our work bridges the gap between the engineering of low dissipation digital devices and theoretical developments in stochastic thermodynamics, and provides a platform to study design principles for low dissipation digital devices.

Management of Construction and Demolished Waste as an Aggregate Substitute in Cement Concrete

India is in the process of modernization in the construction sector by repairing, renovation, up-gradation. Presently concrete, the universal building materials whose main ingredient is coarse aggregate. The local natural resources like stone products and sand may exhaust and put the sector deficient of aggregates. The wise use is to reuse recycled concrete and demolition wastes generated from the construction sectors due to shift from horizontal to vertical growth of urban areas. The replacement of recycled coarse aggregate shall efficiently organize the waste management, moderate the environment degradation, and upsurge sustainability.
 Use of recycling material in the construction industry as a recycled concrete is highly challenging. So our project deals about reusing of demolished concrete blocks from C &D wastes by form of Recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) are replacing the Natural coarse aggregate in concrete and use in the construction industry. The replacement of RCA in special concrete of 7 and 28 days of curing and the various physical and mechanical properties of materials and strength test of both concrete such as workability, compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength. The test value are compared both in concrete.
 Our project investigates on recycling demolished waste materials in order to reduce construction cost and resolving housing problems faced by the low-income communities of the world. The crushed demolished concrete wastes is segregated by sieving to obtain required sizes of aggregate, several tests were conducted to determine the aggregate properties before recycling it into new concrete.

General linguistics must be based on universals (or non-conventional aspects of language)

AbstractThis paper highlights the importance of the distinction between general linguistics (the study of Human Language) and particular linguistics (the study of individual languages), which is often neglected. The term “theoretical linguistics” is often used as if it entailed general claims. But I note that (unless one studies non-conventional aspects of language, e.g. reaction times in psycholinguistics) one must study universals if one wants to make general claims. These universals can be of the Greenbergian type, based on grammatical descriptions of the speakers’ social conventions, or they can be based on the natural-kinds programme, where linguists try to describe mental grammars as made up of universal building blocks of an innate grammar blueprint. The natural-kinds programme is incompatible with Chomsky’s claims about Darwin’s Problem, but it is indispensable for a general linguistics in the generative tradition. The Greenbergian programme, by contrast, can make use of framework-free descriptions because its comparisons are based on independently defined universal yardsticks.

ANALISIS UMUR PROYEK DENGAN METODE PROGRAM EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE (PERT) PADA PROYEK RENOVASI BANGUNAN MES DAN SARANA PENDUKUNG KANTOR BALAI PENGKAJIAN TEKNOLOGI PERTANIAN BALI

Office buildings listed into universal facilities buildings are one type of construction projects thatrequire a good project management to design, organize, perform and organize the construction project itself. Toachieve the success of the project needs to create a planning agenda that matches the wishes to be achieved. Ingeneral, project scheduling makes use of waku estimates of course. But the reality in the field of various obstaclesoccurred during the implementation of the project. therefore, researchers are trying to rescheduling theimplementation time of the Mess Building Renovation Project as well as supporting facilities of the BaliAgricultural Technology Assessment Office to recognize the maximum time of completion of the project. ProjectEvaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is one of the management tools in ensuring the scheduling of a projectby estimating the level of success. The pert procedure estimates 3 times is optimistic time, pessimistic time andvery maximum time. The level of accuracy estimated at the time of completion of the project is determined by thelevel of accuracy estimated the duration of each activity in the project. In analyzing calculations with the PERTmethod, an application-shaped tool, Microsoft Project, is used to manage projects. This application generallymakes it easier for users to create a work plan so that the implementation of the project can take place accordingto the agenda, mastering the influence of possible changes that occur, which can have an effect in the process ofproject implementation, financial scheduling and to unite businesses through communication and reporting ofproject data. Based on the results of the research that has been done, obtained optimistic project plan age of 128working days, the expected project plan age of 140 working days, the age of the pessimistic project plan of 153working days, and the optimum plan age (Te) of 141 working days.

Structural color from a coupled nanowire pair beyond the bonding and antibonding model

Optical resonances in nanostructures can be harnessed to produce a wide range of structural colors. Conversely, the analysis of structural colors has been used to clarify the nature of optical resonances. Here, we show that silicon nanowire (NW) pairs can display a wide range of structural colors by controlling their radiative coupling. This is accomplished by exciting a series of Fabry–Pérot-like modes where light is repeatedly scattered between two NWs. These modes are beyond the expectation from the conventional chemical bonding model under a quasi-electrostatic approximation, in which only bonding and antibonding modes can be formed in a pair system through modal hybridization. The additional eigenmodes found in a two-resonator system originate from the nonlinear, frequency-dependent coupling strength derived from the radiative nature of low-Q resonators. The Fabry–Pérot modes can be tuned across the entire visible frequency range by varying the distance between two NWs, leading to what we believe is a new type of universal building blocks that can provide structural color within a subwavelength footprint. The presented results pave the way toward the design and usage of highly tunable resonances that exploit the radiative coupling of high-index nanostructures.

Assembly of Structural Types of Frank–Kasper Phases Cr3Si, MgCu2 and MgZn2 from a Universal Building Unit

Assembly of Structural Types of Frank–Kasper Phases Cr3Si, MgCu2 and MgZn2 from a Universal Building Unit

Representation of the Structural Types of Copper, Diamond and Tungsten in Terms of a Universal Building Unit

The structural types of copper, diamond and tungsten are represented by a linear union of four tetrahedrons over faces within solution of a general problem of representation of a crystal structure as a union of special atomic clusters. This union (a tetrablock) plays the role of a universal building unit, because it determines the generating clusters (building units) of the basic structural types considered. Spiral unions of these generating clusters are implemented in other structural types too, as well as in metallic liquids and glasses. Since symmetry is a geometrical equivalent for the physical requirement of minimal free energy in a system, the choice of such clusters is determined by purely symmetry (mathematical) considerations.

The Socio-Environmental Metamorphoses: U.A.E. as a Case Study

This paper explores the relationship between the tangible objects reflecting the use of the space and the cultural aspects expressing the identity of the place. The importance of the public spaces in the communication of identity might be seen as one aspect of the area of research into the meaning of the urban space and its relationship to the physical form of housing in the U.A.E. It is assumed that the physical form of the urban space mediates and structures gender relations. This will be illuminated by elements of the urban development and particularly of the urban activities, and an explanation of its relationship to changing ideologies and architectural norms. Typically, the urban and public places symbolize accepted notions of the appropriate function of the gathering spaces and preferred public relations, such notions are in themselves profoundly important in structuring gender relations. The city of today differs from its past in several respects: size and scale, street layout, land use patterns, architectural style and type of housing. Traditional urban form and building which would have provided information about regional and national identity have been largely replaced by forms characterizing the international and universal buildings and spaces. These changes have altered the city’s form and have given rise to questions about the impact of these changes on the image of the city in terms of size and cultural values.

Transverse momentum dependent PDFs at N3LO

We compute the quark and gluon transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N3LO) in perturbative QCD. Our calculation is based on an expansion of the differential Drell-Yan and gluon fusion Higgs production cross sections about their collinear limit. This method allows us to employ cutting edge multiloop techniques for the computation of cross sections to extract these universal building blocks of the collinear limit of QCD. The corresponding perturbative matching kernels for all channels are expressed in terms of simple harmonic polylogarithms up to weight five. As a byproduct, we confirm a previous computation of the soft function for transverse momentum factorization at N3LO. Our results are the last missing ingredient to extend the qT subtraction methods to N3LO and to obtain resummed qT spectra at N3LL′ accuracy both for gluon as well as for quark initiated processes.

Collinear expansion for color singlet cross sections

We demonstrate how to efficiently expand cross sections for color-singlet production at hadron colliders around the kinematic limit of all final state radiation being collinear to one of the incoming hadrons. This expansion is systematically improvable and applicable to a large class of physical observables. We demonstrate the viability of this technique by obtaining the first two terms in the collinear expansion of the rapidity distribution of the gluon fusion Higgs boson production cross section at next-to-next-to leading order (NNLO) in QCD perturbation theory. Furthermore, we illustrate how this technique is used to extract universal building blocks of scattering cross section like the N-jettiness and transverse momentum beam function at NNLO.

N-jettiness beam functions at N3LO

We present the first complete calculation for the quark and gluon N-jettiness ( {mathcal{T}}_N ) beam functions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N3LO) in perturbative QCD. Our calculation is based on an expansion of the differential Higgs boson and Drell-Yan production cross sections about their collinear limit. This method allows us to employ cutting edge techniques for the computation of cross sections to extract the universal building blocks in question. The class of functions appearing in the matching coefficents for all channels includes iterated integrals with non-rational kernels, thus going beyond the one of harmonic polylogarithms. Our results are a key step in extending the {mathcal{T}}_N subtraction methods to N3LO, and to resum {mathcal{T}}_N distributions at N3LL′ accuracy both for quark as well as for gluon initiated processes.

Energy storing bricks for stationary PEDOT supercapacitors

Fired brick is a universal building material, produced by thousand-year-old technology, that throughout history has seldom served any other purpose. Here, we develop a scalable, cost-effective and versatile chemical synthesis using a fired brick to control oxidative radical polymerization and deposition of a nanofibrillar coating of the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). A fired brick’s open microstructure, mechanical robustness and ~8 wt% α-Fe2O3 content afford an ideal substrate for developing electrochemical PEDOT electrodes and stationary supercapacitors that readily stack into modules. Five-minute epoxy serves as a waterproof case enabling the operation of our supercapacitors while submerged underwater and a gel electrolyte extends cycling stability to 10,000 cycles with ~90% capacitance retention.

Atomic Models of the Si(110)-5 × 8 and Ge(110)-c(10 × 8) Surfaces

The atomic models of the Si(110)-5 × 8 and Ge(110)-c(10 × 8) surfaces, which are based on a universal building block for the family of the Si(110) and Ge(110) surfaces proposed in [33], are considered. Ab initio calculations demonstrate that these models give a much lower energy as compared to the models of the 5 × 8 and c(10 × 8) structures suggested earlier and agree in detail with experimental scanning tunneling microscopy images of these structures. The zigzag atomic chains in the 5 × 8 and c(10 × 8) structures are shown to buckle dynamically at room and elevated temperatures, which can explain the nature of the reversible structural transitions 16 × 2 ↔ 5 × 8 and 16 × 2 ↔ c(10 × 8) on the Si(110) and Ge(110) surfaces.

Wearable Devices Using Nanoparticle Chains as Universal Building Blocks with Simple Filtration‐Based Fabrication and Quantum Sensing

AbstractSelf‐assembled micrometer long gold nanoparticle chains are used as building block to fabricate a range of flexible devices to monitor human physiological signals by an easy filtration method. The chains serve as the base material for all the devices and their interconnects and contact pads as well. The micrometer long chains are an array of nanoparticles with gaps of 1–2 nm between adjacent particles. The gaps serve as quantum tunneling barrier and their modulation is basis of signal sensing in these devices. Deposited on a flexible membrane, the chains monitor temperature, artery pulsation, and electrocardiograms (ECG) signals with ease. This simple method provides an avenue to fabricate low cost integrated wearable devices based on quantum phenomena.