10,820 research outputs found
Disorder in Extra-Large Pore Zeolite ITQ-33 Revealed by Single Crystal XRD
No full textThe single crystal of the extra-large pore zeolite, ITQ-33, was obtained and used to explore its crystal structure details. The ITQ-33 structure was found to be disordered with the columnar periodic building unit, explaining the morphology changes upon the different Si/Ge ratio, and the formation of the hierarchical structure from assembling of ITQ-33 nanofibers.Chemistry, MultidisciplinaryCrystallographyMaterials Science, MultidisciplinarySCI(E)EI0ARTICLE104168-41711
Alveolar crystal burden in stone workers with artificial stone silicosis
No full textBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: An epidemic of silicosis has emerged due to a failure to control risks associated with exposure to high‐silica content respirable dust generated while working with artificial stone products. Methods for quantification of alveolar crystal burden are needed to advance our understanding of the pathobiology of silica‐related lung injury as well as assisting in the diagnosis, clinical management and prognostication of affected workers. The objective of this study was to develop and validate novel methods to quantify alveolar crystal burden in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid from patients with artificial stone silicosis. METHODS: New methods to quantify and analyse alveolar crystal in BAL from patients with artificial stone silicosis were developed. Crystals were isolated and counted by microscopy and alveolar crystal burden was calculated using a standard curve generated by titration of respirable α‐Quartz. The utility of the assay was then assessed in 23 patients with artificial stone silicosis. RESULTS: Alveolar crystal burden was greater in patients with silicosis (0.44 picograms [pg]/cell [0.08–3.49]) compared to patients with other respiratory diagnoses (0.057 pg/cell [0.01–0.34]; p < 0.001). Alveolar crystal burden was positively correlated with years of silica exposure (ρ = 0.49, p = 0.02) and with decline in diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (ρ = −0.50, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Alveolar crystal burden quantification differentiates patients with silicosis from patients with other respiratory disorders. Furthermore, crystal burden is correlated with the rate of decline in lung function in patients with artificial stone silicosis
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Love, Crystal and Stone
No full textThis paper presents an analysis of my composition Love, Crystal and Stone, a forty-five minute song-cycle for soprano, violin, flute, clarinet and percussion, written in 2017 for TAK Ensemble of New York. Based on a selection of lyric poems by Federico García Lorca, Love, Crystal and Stone explores the core question, “How can the lyric poetry of Lorca be re-experienced by critically rethinking the poetic potentials of the formal construction of the music?” In my dissertation, I will discuss the various ways that my music, in its formal construction, attempts to incorporate Lorca’s text in order to capture and reiterate the essence of the text. In my essay, I will also explore the choices of material and my compositional processes, including a description of how I continuously rework and re-contextualize my musical material not only throughout the span of the piece, but through the arc of my catalogue of works. The theoretical analysis of the piece involves an in-depth explanation of the musical elements of Love, Crystal and Stone including form; pitch, timbral, and rhythmic structures; the incorporation of musical gestures; and orchestration choices. Finally, I will conclude with a brief discussion of my approach to the analysis of Love, Crystal and Stone
Governance of future urban mobility: a research agenda
No full textQuestions about how to plan and govern for future urban mobility are reaching a critical point as Australian cities are faced with disruption to transport and urban systems arising from new forms of shared mobility services and the rise of autonomous vehicles. An industry engagement workshop, drawing on the insights of participants from public and private sectors of the industry, articulated a large array of complex and interrelated questions highlighting the uncertainty and scarcity of knowledge. These questions are grouped into three key themes concerning how implementation may take place, what the impacts of the uptake of these emerging transport technologies may be and how to understand them. The resultant research agenda is vast and one of multi-complexity by space, time and institutionally
Planning the driverless city
No full textAV technologies have the potential to transform urban landscapes and existing transport systems and networks. Yet, the utopian imaginary of reduced automobile ownership and a new shared economic future sits in tension with suggestions that car dependency, urban sprawl and transport inaccessibility will be exacerbated. The issues are situated in a complex governance landscape involving an influential private sector who are increasingly setting the agenda. The public sector may be forced into reacting to the new innovations by information technology and automobile companies as they are introduced into existing built environments. Drawing on an extensive literature base and interviews with public sector planners, this paper reveals the conceptual gaps in the framing of AV technology – the prospects and limits – and how these are conceived. The paper raises questions about the role urban planning can play in the rollout of AVs in order to anticipate and mediate unwanted built environment and socio-spatial impacts, as well as reconciling the ambition of transport innovation with the public purpose of planning
Hanging the harp on the willow tree: music and national identity in postcolonial Ireland
No full textAn inquiry into how music served as a nation building tool in the early decades of the Irish Free State.M.A.Includes bibliographical referencesby Crystal N. Galyea
Planning for disruptive transport technologies: how prepared are Australian transport agencies?
No full textIn Australia, corporations are playing an increasing role in the shaping of urban regions through their ability to mobilize capital to support large infrastructure projects and to usurp institutional planning roles which have traditionally been the responsibility of public-sector agencies. The chapter outlines emerging evidence of changes in the roles of corporations in generating ideas and mobilizing political support for their favoured city-shaping projects, and shows that the private sector is embedded in the processes of government, such as planning, in increasingly complex ways. Through ‘market-led’ or ‘unsolicited’ proposal evaluation frameworks, corporations can now bring proposals to political leaders in ways which go outside traditional planning processes and bypass conventional engagement with civil society.In this context, we present data from a recent survey of planners in state and national land-use and transport agencies. The survey, conducted through semi-structured interviews, gathered information about the expectations of these organizations in relation to the nature and timing of the deployment of new AV technologies; about the potential implications for achieving environmental and social planning objectives; and about the collective infrastructure investments that AV technologies may require. This work is being used to shape a new research agenda to explore the planning and regulatory frameworks that are needed to ensure that the AV technologies can be deployed in ways that maximize the public good.<br/
Challenges for Government as Facilitator and Umpire of Innovation in Urban Transport: The View from Australia
No full textAbstract
New economies based on emerging technologies for shared mobility and autonomous vehicles will shape future urban transport systems, but their potential impacts are uncertain. Internationally, government agencies face difficult challenges to effectively plan and regulate the deployment of these technologies for the common good, whilst simultaneously encouraging innovation. Being both a facilitator and an umpire is not an easy task. This chapter draws on a series of interviews with public and private-sector actors in urban transport in Australia. Unsurprisingly, all private-sector respondents had significant concerns for the sustainability of their business in the emerging mobility markets, but it was generally acknowledged that without government support and partnership, a lack of structure and clarity could lead to natural monopolies with negative consequences for competition and the public good. Strong and clear government regulation is seen to be necessary to allow the sector to reach its maximum potential and have positive ramifications for both the public and the private good – outcome not always seen as compatible. Public-sector interviewees generally recognised that much of the necessary innovation was being shaped by the market, and that there had been a considerable loss of skills over decades from the state because of neo-liberal policies. So, some doubted the ability of the state to shape developments using currently available planning and public policy methods and feared that it would be difficult to regulate emergent markets to prevent monopolies emerging. On the other hand, some argued that many firms are looking to government for frameworks in which businesses can operate successfully by setting conditions in which risks could be managed. This chapter discusses these issues, seeking to guide research agendas and to foster further debate. The evidence gained from these in-depth interviews helps focus attention on which forms of regulation might be required by industry. It also raises questions about the capacity of government agencies to effectively manage these complex transitions
The study of calcium oxalate kidney stone growth in microfluidic channel
No full textKidney stone disease influences 10% of people in the world [36]. Calcium oxalate (CaOx) stones are the most common stones found in the kidney stone. In this research, ANSYS/Fluent CFD was used to determine the supersaturation profile in the microchannel for different constant flow rates and Ca and Ox inlet concentrations. The growth of the CaOx stones is studied by performing experiments in a microfluidic channel under an optical microscopy. The growth of the CaOx stones is also investigated by using a combined transport-kinetics model which couple both mass transport and CaOx precipitationreaction at the surface of the crystal. It is shown that the crystal growth rate increases with solution supersaturation increasing and decreases with the crystal size increasing. The findings also indicated that in cases of low bulk solution supersaturation and low surface reaction constant values,the crystal growth rates are controlled by the surface reaction kinetics and independent on the species transport. When the bulk solution supersaturation and surface reaction constant values are high, the Ca and Ox surface concentrations become lower than the bulk solution concentration values. Thus,the crystal growth rates are controlled by the species transport. The presented study also shows that in the presence of inhibitor osteopontin, the crystal growth rate was decreased.Kidney stone projectApplied Physic
Crystal agglomeration is a major element in calcium oxalate urinary stone formation
No full textCrystal agglomeration is a major element in calcium oxalate urinary stone formation. The effects of urines from 36 healthy subjects and 86 calcium oxalate renal stone formers on calcium oxalate monohydrate crystallization kinetics were studied using a seeded crystal growth method in which the solubility, the growth and the agglomeration of the crystals are measured as three separate and system-independent parameters. The urines of healthy subjects were found to increase the solubility and to strongly inhibit the growth and the agglomeration of calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals. The urines of stone formers had a similar effect on the solubility, but a significantly lower ability to inhibit the crystal growth and the crystal agglomeration. Of these two kinetic processes the inhibition of crystal agglomeration was more clearly affected, with 55% of the stone formers having abnormally low values, while the changes in crystal growth inhibition occurred within the normal range. The defect in crystal agglomeration inhibition was related to stone frequency, and urines from patients with very high stone frequency rates had also the most severely impaired ability to inhibit the agglomeration of the calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals. The inhibitory effect of urines on crystal agglomeration was found to be related to its citrate content (r = 0.68, P < 0.001). All patients with hypocitraturia, except two, had also abnormally low values for crystal agglomeration inhibition. In a group of 15 hypocitraturic stone formers, alkali treatment for a mean period of 18 months resulted in a parallel increase in urinary citrate excretion and in the ability of urines to inhibit crystal agglomeration (r = 0.77, P < 0.001). These results show that defective inhibition of the kinetic process of crystal agglomeration constitutes a major physicochemical mechanism of calcium oxalate renal stone formation, which appears to be modulated by urinary citrate concentrations
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