Kunststof dromen: Gevels van glasvezelversterkt polyester in Nederland

In the wake of the Second World War, architects and construction companies in the Netherlands started to experiment with the use of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) in architecture. At the time this combination of polyester and fibreglass, which is strong, malleable and lightweight, was seen as an ideal building material. Yet to date very little research has been carried out into the use of FRP in Dutch architecture. This article investigates the social changes that prompted architects and construction companies to experiment with FRP.After the Second World War various factories in the transport industry were keen to find new markets for their expertise with FRP. They found them in housing construction. The plastic material was eminently suited to system building, a process that speeded up the construction of much-needed housing. Thanks to its high load-bearing capacity and factory production, FRP was ideal for the sandwich panels used in this construction method.Another factor in FRP’s favour was the prevailing sense of optimism about the future in the Netherlands in that period. Architects were considering new, flexible forms of living and the designs they produced gave residents the freedom to organize, extend and even relocate their dwelling. Some architects also felt that the outward appearance of buildings should change – that a new era demanded new forms. Buildings should express an optimistic view of the future, and for that FRP, which could be produced in a wide range of shapes and colours, was ideal. Until 1973, that is, when the global oil crisis caused the price of oil to rise so steeply that the use of FRP in large-scale housing projects ceased to be cost-effective.Many of the buildings containing FRP have since been demolished. The earliest examples were often experimental prototypes, one-off structures not intended for long-term occupancy. Plastic never became really popular as a building material for housing; people were reluctant to exchange their solid brick or concrete dwellings for a plastic version.Fast forward to today and the restoration and preservation of buildings constructed with FRP is problematical since the relevant expertise is still lacking in the heritage sector. Nonetheless, interest in plastic architecture is growing, accompanied by an emphasis on preservation rather than demolition. This new approach is a corollary of the increasing interest in post-1965 architecture. The negative image of FRP is gradually starting to change.Na de Tweede Wereldoorlog experimenteerden architecten en bedrijven met het gebruik van glasvezelversterkt polyester (gvp) in de architectuur. Dit mengsel van polyester en glasvezel werd in die tijd gezien als een ideaal bouwmateriaal: het is sterk, makkelijk te vervormen en weegt weinig. Tot nu toe is er nog weinig onderzoek gedaan naar het gebruik van gvp in de Nederlandse architectuur. Dit artikel onderzoekt de maatschappelijke veranderingen die belangrijk waren bij de keuze van architecten en bedrijven om gvp toe te passen.Aan de experimenten met gvp in de architectuur liggen een aantal maatschappelijke veranderingen ten grondslag. Ten eerste zochten verschillende fabrieken in de vervoersmiddelenindustrie na de oorlog naar nieuwe afzetmarkten waar ze hun expertise op het gebied van gvp konden inzetten. Deze vonden ze in de woningbouw. Het kunststofmateriaal was namelijk goed bruikbaar binnen de systeembouw, waarmee in snel tempo huizen werden gebouwd. Door de enorme draagkracht en de fabrieksmatige productie was gvp geschikt voor sandwichplaten die bij deze bouwmethode werden gebruikt. Ten tweede heerste in Nederland een optimistisch gevoel over de toekomst. Architecten dachten na over nieuwe, flexibele vormen van wonen. Ze maakten ontwerpen die bewoners de vrijheid boden hun woning zelf in te delen, uit te breiden en zelfs te verplaatsen. Ook meenden sommigen dat het uiterlijk van gebouwen moest veranderen; bij een nieuwe tijd hoorden nieuwe vormen. De gebouwen moesten een optimistisch toekomstbeeld uitdragen en gvp kon makkelijk in allerlei vormen en kleuren worden uitgevoerd. In 1973 werd door de oliecrisis aardolie echter fors duurder, waardoor de inzet van gvp in grootschalige woningbouwprojecten niet langer rendabel kon zijn.Veel van de gebouwen met gvp zijn inmiddels gesloopt. De vroegste voorbeelden van waren vaak experimentele prototypes. Deze werden maar één keer uitgevoerd en waren niet bedoeld voor een langdurige bewoning. Als materiaal voor woningbouw is kunststof nooit echt populair geworden. Mensen durfden hun huizen van baksteen of beton niet zomaar in te wisselen voor een kunststof variant. Daarnaast is het restaureren en conserveren van gebouwen van gvp een probleem, omdat daarover in de erfgoedsector nog weinig kennis is.Toch neemt de aandacht voor kunststof architectuur in de erfgoedsector toe, waarbij steeds meer wordt ingezet op het behoud in plaats van sloop. Deze nieuwe benadering vloeit voort uit de groeiende interesse voor architectuur van na 1965. Het negatieve beeld van gvp-architectuur lijkt langzaam te kantelen

Fingerprint resampling: A generic method for efficient resampling

Analysis and Stochastic

A Decision Support Tool for the Selection of Promoting Actions to Encourage Collaboration in Projects for the Agriculture Sector

[EN] Development and innovation agencies promote consortiums of agricultural stakeholders to collaborate in the proposal of projects for public calls. To achieve this partnerships, these agencies should select between different promoting actions to be performed with two objectives: maximize the number of project proposals presented and minimize the resources invested. To support agencies with these decisions, a computer tool based on a multi-objective integer linear programming model is proposed. To deal with the two objectives the weighting sum method is implemented. The model is validated in different scenarios by means a realistic case of an agency in Brittany (France). The results show the conflict between the two objectives considered and the dependency of the solutions on the scenarios defined. As a conclusion it can be stated that: 1) decision-makers should be careful in defining the weights of each objective and 2) the impact of the different promoting actions on the level of stakeholders¿ participation should be precisely estimated.The authors acknowledge the support of the project 691249, RUCAPS: "Enhancing and implementing knowledge based ICT solutions within high risk and uncertain conditions for agriculture production systems", funded by the European Union¿s research and innovation programme under the H2020 Marie Sk¿odowska-Curie Actions.Alemany Díaz, MDM.; Alarcón Valero, F.; Pérez Perales, D.; Guyon, C. (2020). A Decision Support Tool for the Selection of Promoting Actions to Encourage Collaboration in Projects for the Agriculture Sector. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. 598:534-545. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62412-5_44534545598European Comission Funded Programs. https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020Zoie, C., Radulescu, M.: Decision analysis for the project selection problem under risk. IFAC Proc. 34(8), 445–450 (2001)Sadi-Nezhad, S.: A state-of-art survey on project selection using MCDM techniques. J. Project Manage. 2, 1–10 (2017)Caballero, H.C., Chopra, S., Schmidt, E.K.: Project portfolio selection using mathematical programming and optimization methods. In: Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2012–North America, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Newtown Square, PA, Project Management Institute (2012)Ahmad, B., Haq, I.: Project selection techniques, relevance and applications in Pakistan. Int. J. Technol. Res. 4, 52–60 (2016)Inuiguchi, M., Ramı́k, J.: Possibilistic linear programming: a brief review of fuzzy mathematical programming and a comparison with stochastic programming in portfolio selection problem. Fuzzy Sets Syst. 111(1), 3–28 (2000)Stewart, R., Mohamed, S.: IT/IS projects selection using multi-criteria utility theory. Log. Inf. Manage. 15(4), 254–270 (2002)Alzober, W., Yaakub, A.R.: Integrated model for MCDM: selection contractor in Malaysian construction industry. In: Applied Mechanics and Materials 548, pp. 1587–1595. Trans Tech Publications (2014)Adhikary, P., Roy, P.K., Mazumdar, A.: Optimal renewable energy project selection: a multi-criteria optimization technique approach. Global J. Pure Appl. Math. 11(5), 3319–3329 (2015)Strang, K.D.: Portfolio selection methodology for a nuclear project. Project Manage. J. 42(2), 81–93 (2011)Benjamin, C.O.: A linear goal-programming model for public-sector project selection. J. Oper. Res. Soc. 36(1), 13–23 (1985)Coronado, J.R., Pardo-Mora, E.M., Valero, M.: A multi-objective model for selection of projects to finance new enterprise SMEs in Colombia. J. Ind. Eng. Manage. 4(3), 407–417 (2011)Mat, N.A.C., Cheung, Y.: Partner selection: criteria for successful collaborative network. In: 20th Australian Conference on Information Systems, pp. 631–641 (2009)Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Afsarmanesh, H.: Collaborative Networks. In: Wang, K., Kovacs, G.L., Wozny, M., Fang, M. (eds.) PROLAMAT 2006. IIFIP, vol. 207, pp. 26–40. Springer, Boston, MA (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-34403-9_4Paixão, M., Sbragia, R., Kruglianskas, I.: Factors for selecting partners in innovation projects–evidences from alliances in the Brazilian petrochemical leader. Rev. Admin. Innov. São Paulo 11(2), 241–272 (2014)Duisters, D., Duysters, G., de Man, A.P.: The partner selection process: steps, effectiveness, governance. Ann. Hematol. 2, 7–25 (2011)Zhang, X.: Criteria for selecting the private-sector partner in public-private partnerships. J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 131(6), 631–644 (2005

Identification of high‐dimensional omics‐derived predictors for tumor growth dynamics using machine learning and pharmacometric modeling

Analytical BioScience

Identification of antibiotic collateral sensitivity and resistance interactions in population surveillance data

Background\Objectives\Methods\Results\Conclusions\Collateral effects of antibiotic resistance occur when resistance to one antibiotic agent leads to increased resistance or increased sensitivity to a second agent, known respectively as collateral resistance (CR) and collateral sensitivity (CS). Collateral effects are relevant to limit impact of antibiotic resistance in design of antibiotic treatments. However, methods to detect antibiotic collateral effects in clinical population surveillance data of antibiotic resistance are lacking.\nTo develop a methodology to quantify collateral effect directionality and effect size from large-scale antimicrobial resistance population surveillance data. We propose a methodology to quantify and test collateral effects in clinical surveillance data based on a conditional t-test. Our methodology was evaluated using MIC data for 419 Escherichia coli strains, containing MIC data for 20 antibiotics, which were obtained from the Pathosystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC) database. We demonstrate that the proposed approach identifies several antibiotic combinations that show symmetrical or non-symmetrical CR and CS. For several of these combinations, collateral effects were previously confirmed in experimental studies. We furthermore provide insight into the power of our method for multiple collateral effect sizes and MIC distributions. Our proposed approach is of relevance as a tool for analysis of large-scale population surveillance studies to provide broad systematic identification of collateral effects related to antibiotic resistance, and is made available to the community as an R package. This method can help mapping CS and CR, which could guide combination therapy and prescribing in the future.Pharmacolog

A-type lamins are essential for TGF-beta1 induced PP2A to dephosphorylate transcription factors.

Diseases caused by mutations in lamins A and C (laminopathies) suggest a crucial role for A-type lamins in different cellular processes. Laminopathies mostly affect tissues of mesenchymal origin. As transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) signalling impinges on the retinoblastoma protein (pRB) and SMADs, we tested the hypothesis that lamins modulate cellular responses to TGF-beta1 signalling, via the regulation of these transcription factors in mesenchymal cells. Here, we report that A-type lamins are essential for the inhibition of fibroblast proliferation by TGF-beta1. TGF-beta1 dephosphorylated pRB through PP2A, both of which, we show, are associated with lamin A/C. In addition, lamin A/C modulates the effect of TGF-beta1 on collagen production, a marker of mesenchymal differentiation. Our findings implicate lamin A/C in control of gene activity downstream of TGF-beta1, via nuclear phosphatases such as PP2A. This biological function provides a novel explanation for the observed mesenchymal dysfunction in laminopathie

MicroRNA-18 and microRNA-19 regulate CTGF and TSP-1 expression in age-related heart failure

To understand the process of cardiac aging, it is of crucial importance to gain insight into the age-related changes in gene expression in the senescent failing heart. Age-related cardiac remodeling is known to be accompanied by changes in extracellular matrix (ECM) gene and protein levels. Small noncoding microRNAs regulate gene expression in cardiac development and disease and have been implicated in the aging process and in the regulation of ECM proteins. However, their role in age-related cardiac remodeling and heart failure is unknown. In this study, we investigated the aging-associated microRNA cluster 17–92, which targets the ECM proteins connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1). We employed aged mice with a failure-resistant (C57Bl6) and failure-prone (C57Bl6 × 129Sv) genetic background and extrapolated our findings to human age-associated heart failure. In aging-associated heart failure, we linked an aging-induced increase in the ECM proteins CTGF and TSP-1 to a decreased expression of their targeting microRNAs 18a, 19a, and 19b, all members of the miR-17–92 cluster. Failure-resistant mice showed an opposite expression pattern for both the ECM proteins and the microRNAs. We showed that these expression changes are specific for cardiomyocytes and are absent in cardiac fibroblasts. In cardiomyocytes, modulation of miR-18/19 changes the levels of ECM proteins CTGF and TSP-1 and collagens type 1 and 3. Together, our data support a role for cardiomyocyte-derived miR-18/19 during cardiac aging, in the fine-tuning of cardiac ECM protein levels. During aging, decreased miR-18/19 and increased CTGF and TSP-1 levels identify the failure-prone heart

Intersubject and intrasubject variability of potential plasma and urine metabolite and protein biomarkers in healthy human volunteers

A limited understanding of intersubject and intrasubject variability hampers effective biomarker translation from in vitro/in vivo studies to clinical trials and clinical decision support. Specifically, variability of biomolecule concentration can play an important role in interpretation, power analysis, and sampling time designation. In the present study, a wide range of 749 plasma metabolites, 62 urine biogenic amines, and 1,263 plasma proteins were analyzed in 10 healthy male volunteers measured repeatedly during 12 hours under tightly controlled conditions. Three variability components in relative concentration data are determined using linear mixed models: between (intersubject), time (intrasubject), and noise (intrasubject). Biomolecules such as 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoate, platelet-derived growth factor C, and cathepsin D with low noise potentially detect changing conditions within a person. If also the between component is low, biomolecules can easier differentiate conditions between persons, for example cathepsin D, CD27 antigen, and prolylglycine. Variability over time does not necessarily inhibit translatability, but requires choosing sampling times carefully.Analytical BioScience